


Rejected From the Rejects

by Rudolphsd



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - My Hero Academia Fusion, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Gen, Homophobia, Liberal use of the Japanese version of the f-slur, Misgendering, Slice of Life, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, Transphobia, Trigger Warning: Choking (non-sexual), platonic fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-25 08:18:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 25,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16193672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rudolphsd/pseuds/Rudolphsd
Summary: [BNHA fusion] In a society where 80% of the populace is endowed with quirks, everyone and their mother wants to be a hero. But even if Neku wanted to be a hero, an incident with his powers forced him to transfer to “The Union of Growth,” a reform school for troubled youth on the path to villainhood. If he can pass through the year-long reform program, the government says it will clear his record. But there’s something shady behind the scenes, and surviving at a school full of delinquents alone is tough. Luckily, Neku’s roommates are determined to help him, whether he want it or not.





	Rejected From the Rejects

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the TWEWY bang 2018. My amazing artist, scivious, can be found at https://scivious.tumblr.com  
> Her work is attached

Neku didn’t know what he was doing here.

Well, that wasn't true. He knew each exact event that led to his enrollment in The Union of Growth Reform School: The Incident, the court date, the sentencing, and his parents’ distant farewells.

He stared up at the bunk above the one he had claimed, headphones drowning out the rest of the world. On the other side of his new room, another boy with smog-silver hair had claimed the top bed of the other bunk. He was taping a rainbow flag to the bed rails on the upper bunk and pointedly refusing to acknowledge Neku.

Perfect. Neku hoped his other two roommates would be as quiet. Mentally, he went through his supplies. His small drawers were already stuffed to bursting with socks, underwear, and pajamas; his art supplies and pin collection were haphazardly strewn on top of the drawers; his toiletries and hair products were in their bathroom; his cell phone was charging-

“Excuse me…” A girl with bobbed hair and glasses tapped his shoulder. She had striking cheekbones and thick eyebrows. “This is room 204, right?”

“‘Course it is. Can’t you read?”

The girl frowned and hugged what looked like a stuffed pig to Neku closer to her chest. “Yeah, but-” She sighed, “I guess it’s to be expected.”

“What are you doing here anyway? The girls’ dorms are in the other building. Did you not notice all of the guys? Guess you’re blind or something.”

Despite the insult, the girl smiled like she received a compliment. “I’ll explain once our other roommate gets here. I’m Misaki Shiki, but you can just call me Shiki. What’s your name?”

“Sakuraba Neku. Now go away.”

Shiki frowned, but she put her bag on the lower bed of the opposite bunk and began chatting with the other boy.    

Neku was allowed an entire ten seconds of peace before there was a knock on the window. Shiki yelped and ran to it. She opened it and reached down, pulling a young girl up with her. The girl couldn’t have been older than twelve, with short blonde hair tucked underneath a black beanie.

“I could have sworn this was the boys’ dorm,” Neku grumbled.  

“Is this room 204?” the blonde girl asked. “My brother doesn’t want to carry his stuff up the stairs.”

“What’s he going to do? Fly up here like you did?”

The silver-haired boy’s question was answered when a mass of muscle dove through the window on a skateboard. He quickly shifted his weight in an attempt to stop, but skidded into the door and crashed.

Neku rolled his eyes.

Shiki offered him a hand up, which he took. The girl was surprisingly strong and lithe. Maybe she was an athlete.

“Rhyme,” the boy panted, “I told you not to go in without me! We don’t know what kind of irrefutable people are here.”

“You mean people of ill repute,” Rhyme corrected him. Her voice was sweet and gentle. “And, Beat, if you can’t trust them with your sister for a minute, you’re not going to be able to make any new friends.”

“Rhyme!” Beat looked down and grabbed his shoulder. “I won’t be able to protect you when I’m in this place.”

“I can take care of myself. Mom and Dad aren’t nearly as hard on me. Do you have all of your stuff?”

Beat nodded and scrubbed his eyes with his arm. Neku realized he was crying.

_Frickin baby. I can’t believe I’m stuck with this guy in my room for an entire year._

The siblings said their goodbyes, and Rhyme jumped out the window she entered with the grace of a sugar glider.

Shiki awkwardly patted Beat on the back. “It’s Beat, right? I’m Shiki, this is Joshua, and that’s Neku.”

“I never said you could use my first name,” Neku snarled.

The silver-haired boy- Joshua - smirked and twisted a strand of hair around his finger. “Sakuraba-chan is a pleasant one, isn’t he?”

“Don’t call me that.”

“I’m Kiryu Yoshiya, but Mother and Father call me Joshua.”

“I’m Beat. You can call me Beat.”

Shiki smiled a saccharine smile and took a deep breath.

_She’s just like the girls from middle school: nosy and annoying. Wish she’d just shut the hell up and let us do our own thing._

“You guys might be wondering why a girl is in your room for the year. The truth is I have gender identity disorder, meaning I was born with a male body but identify as female. Because I have a… Y chromosome, the staff placed me in the male dorms. If I make you uncomfortable in any way, please let me know and I’ll do my best to accommodate you.”

“So you’re an nyuhafu, but all the time?” Beat asked.

“The proper term is ‘transgender,’” Joshua said.

Neku curled his lip and rolled his eyes.

 _Prick_.

Shiki fidgeted. “So… yeah.”

An older teenager with a name tag reading “Tenho” stuck his head in.

“You guys better change into your uniforms. The opening assembly starts in twenty minutes.”

* * *

“Welcome to Union of Growth Reform School. I peer down and see vagrants, delinquents, and troublemakers, but know that by the end of your year here you will rise as model citizens in this fair nation of ours. To be offered a fresh start…”

Neku fidgeted in his seat and looked around. He wanted to sit alone, but Shiki had sat next to him and Beat next to… him? Her?

_Shiki’s obnoxious enough to be a girl. Maybe if I refer to her as one, she’ll be less annoying._

He craned his head, but couldn’t see Joshua anywhere. All of the teachers were staring with rapt attention at the principal, Mr. Kitaniji. Neku took the opportunity to ditch his blazer and loosen his tie. He was draping his blazer on the back of his chair when something on it caught his eye.

The insignia used on their school uniform was spiked and gothic. It looked like a pointy shrub within a pot, or an embellished cross with folded bat wings instead of a base. When he turned it upside-down, it looked like a heavily stylized skull with a dent in the top.

He kept rotating the emblem to find different interpretations, but soon he felt the eyes of a staff member and finished hanging his blazer on the back of his chair.

With nothing better to do, Neku shifted his attention back to the principal.

“Our rules have been designed to maintain order. Any infractions will be met with zero tolerance. This especially goes for dorm rooms. In order to maintain order, each building will have a set of dorm monitors. Dorm monitors, please stand.”

A group of students in the back stood and looked around, waving awkwardly. Neku recognized Tenho from earlier among them. All of the dorm monitors looked about the same except for one, who managed to get away with spiked blonde hair.

“These students have demonstrated excellent behavior over the years. You should consider them as role models. They are here to help you, but also to ensure that you don’t disobey. With that, I will pass the microphone to our counselor, Konishi Miksuki, who will discuss discipline on campus.”

As Kitaniji stepped off the podium in the scattered applause, Neku noticed that he never took off the dark sunglasses he wore.

Konishi stepped up to the podium. Although she addressed the crowd as a whole, Neku could still feel her steely eyes behind her glasses, as if she were throwing cold water onto the audience.

“Students. You are here because you have made mistakes. You have wronged someone. You have become a stain on your peers, your family, and the society we live in. You are here to make up for these mistakes and grow into people that we can all be proud of. This journey will not be easy. The desire to act out, to succumb to your baser instincts will arise. Our curriculum and discipline may frustrate you, but you are not alone. Every staff member here at the Union of Growth is dedicated to your journey to maturity. In order to assist you, each and every student will be granted counseling sessions with me once every two weeks. Students will be granted sessions on a more regular basis if it is determined that they require extra assistance. As you demonstrate progress of your rehabilitation, sessions will become less frequent. Although these conversations will take place during school or club hours, they are not an excuse to slack on your academics. Any assignments you miss must be made up for on your own time.”  

“Bitch,” Beat muttered. Unfortunately, he wasn’t very good at keeping his voice down, so his comment drew some glances from surrounding students.

“This school is a punishment. It is the consequence of your actions. But together, we can fix your deviant behavior and truly make this school a Union of Growth.”

More scattered applause filled the room as Konishi stepped down from the podium. Another teacher stepped up to the microphone. He had messy hair and a relaxed stance, like the idea of speaking to a room of students with criminal records was as easy as ordering a coffee.

“Hello students. My name is Hanekoma Sanae. I know you all are getting anxious to return to your dorms and finish moving in before classes start tomorrow, so I’ll be brief. Your class assignments will be posted in the kitchens before breakfast tomorrow, so be sure to wake up early. Make sure not to get lost on your first day!”

His voice was smooth and charismatic. Neku found himself almost hanging onto his every word.

“Oh, and be sure to check out the art club after school! It’s a lot of fun. I’m not just saying that because I’m the advisor.” There were a few laughs at that. Neku, to his surprise, realized he was one of them. “There are other clubs too, sports and stuff- they’ll be posted with your class assignments. With that, you are all dismissed. Please exit the auditorium in an orderly fashion. I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow.”

* * *

The alarm hurt. Not only did the clock on the dresser make a hideous sound that instantly tore Neku from his dreamless sleep, it was a pressing reminder of his predicament.

_First day of school._

Neku groaned as he rolled out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom. The bathroom was as colorless and crowded as the bedroom, with a single sink and mirror squeezed next to the toilet and a shower stall taking up the remainder of the room. He fell into the shower and let the warm water wash over him in the irrational hope that he would melt down the drain and not have to move. His plans for dissolving into the void were interrupted by a banging on the bathroom door.

“Neku! Hurry up!”

It was Shiki. Of course it was Shiki. He dragged himself out of the shower and started working on his hair. He was halfway through spiking his it when the door rattled again.

“What’s taking so long?”

“I’m doing my hair! Piss off!”

“Beat needs to pee and I need to shave my legs.”

“Why the hell would you need to shave your legs?”

“Can Beat at least come in?”

“Are you kidding? There’s barely enough room for one person in here.”

“You’ve been in there for a half an hour.”

“Fine.”

Beat squeezed in, wearing nothing but boxers and a giant black chain necklace with a skull pendant.

_How the heck can he sleep in that?_

Neku pulled his eyes away and finished his hair. He opened the door and called, “Bathroom’s open. Or it will be when Beat’s done.”

Shiki’s head perked up. She was still in her pajamas: pink flannels with cats printed on them. She picked up a hanger and waited by the bathroom door. The hanger had the school’s uniform blazer and shirt, but instead of the slacks she wore at the assembly the day before, the standard black skirt was clipped on. Neku raised his eyebrows, but didn’t say anything.

While Neku slipped on his own uniform, Joshua was preparing to walk out the door, adjusting his hair in a silver pocket mirror.

“You forgot your tie.”

Joshua made a final adjustment to his hair and slipped the mirror into his school bag. “I look better without it, don’t you think? Besides, it’s hardly the most audacious uniform choice today.”

With that, he left the dorm.

Neku looked down at his own tie and sighed.

_I can’t blame him. I don’t know how to tie this thing._

Beat had left the bathroom and was also struggling with his tie, tying it and untying it until he threw it on the ground in frustration.

_I guess none of the boys from 204 will be wearing their ties today._

Breakfast was in the same cafeteria that lunch and dinner would be served in. Like everything else in the school, it was colorless and uniform. Neku grabbed a bowl of rice and sat at an empty seat. He saw Joshua talking to a ganguro girl and a boy with bleach-blonde hair. The aimless conversations in the cafeteria melted together into white noise, which wrapped around him like a comfort blanket. He pulled out his sketchbook and started sketching an icicle spear, erupting from the ground-

“Whatcha drawing?”

Shiki’s voice swept the blanket away. She had sat next to him and Beat had sat next to her.

“None of your business. Why do you two keep following me like a couple of lost puppies?”

Shiki frowned. “We’re roommates and we’ll all be in the same class together. We might as well be friends.”

“I don’t want any friends. Quit stalking me.”

“I was just trying to be friendly. Sheesh.” She picked up her tray and stood up. “C’mon Beat, let’s go.”

Shiki was walking over to an empty bench when a leg extended out in front of her. She stumbled, but didn’t fall. Her bowl slipped around her tray, spilling food. After she caught her balance, she spun around and glared at the girl who tripped her. The girl just stared back. Beat checked her head with his elbow and kept walking.

Once they sat down, the projectiles started. The girl who tried to trip Shiki flung the first spoonful of rice. It missed, but it encouraged the rest of her table to join in. A boy managed to hit Shiki in the face with a crumpled-up napkin, causing her to flinch.

Neku traced the trajectory of a chopstick over to Joshua’s table. The ganguro was high fiving the other boy at the table. Joshua’s face was blank as he listlessly finished his breakfast.

Beat slammed his hands on the table. The entire cafeteria jumped. “Knock it off! Or I’ll mess you all up.”

“No fighting,” one of the dorm monitors called from across the room.

No more projectiles were launched that morning, but the cafeteria was filled with loud commentary and speculation. The blanket of white noise was long gone.

As the instigating girl left the cafeteria, the fluorescent lights flickered. She stumbled and fell forward, slamming her nose on the ground.

* * *

When Neku walked into classroom 1-C, the seating chart was already posted. He took his seat in the third row. Beat and Shiki were already in their seats in the first and second row respectively. Shiki’s head was on a swivel, daring anyone to challenge her. A few students met her gaze, but no one tried anything. Joshua was the last one to walk in. He took his seat in the second row, with only one desk between him and Shiki.

Neku took his notebook out. He sketched the school logo absentmindedly, ensuring the symmetricality of it and carefully gauging the size of the circles he used as guidelines. He turned his notebook 180 degrees. The bizarre and complex shape was easier to manage when it was turned completely upside-down.

He was carefully finishing the dent at the top when the teacher finally entered. He wore ripped pants and a cap covering messy hair and manic eyes.

_That’s our teacher? He looks like a crazy street-villain._

He pulled out a megaphone from his desk and spoke into it.

“Attention all yoctograms! My name is Minamimoto Sho, and I will be your homeroom and math instructor. You, there-” he pointed at a girl in the back row, “-stand and tell me what pi is.”

“Uh… 3.141...5?”

Minamimoto shook his head. “Absolutely pathetic. Your ignorance is garbage, but it’s a good place to start. I’ll increase your limit as we approach infinity…”

Their next teacher was almost normal compared to Minamimoto, with the only oddity being  her short bob of pink hair. She turned to the blackboard and wrote her name.

“My name is Yashiro Uzuki. I’ll be your English teacher.”

Yashiro said something in English and a couple of students raised their hands, including Joshua. When she saw Joshua, she frowned and looked around the class and switched back to Japanese.

“Sakuraba, Bito, Kiryu, you aren’t in uniform. The dress code requires you to wear your neckties. And Sakuraba, hair must be neatly combed and styling needs to be at a minimum.”

“Forget about them,” a girl called. It was the ganguro that had been sitting with Joshua at breakfast. “Misaki-kun is wearing a skirt.”

Shiki, who was looking down, completely froze.

Yashiro raised her eyebrows. “Misaki, is this true? Please stand.”

She did, chin high. Yashiro looked her up and down.

“We have an okama in the class, it seems. Hmmph. Misaki, go to the nurse’s office after class and get a spare male uniform. Remain standing. The rest of you can sit down, but make sure you follow the dress code tomorrow.”

Shiki’s face burned red, but she kept her chin up, and class began.

The rest of the day continued in a similar fashion. Shiki was pelted with insults and  projectiles, shoved and tripped, and even had her clothes stolen from her when she was changing after PE. Beat managed to chase the culprits and get them back right before they were dropped in the toilet. The rest of the class stared at him for the rest of the day, sizing him up like wolves gazing at a pack of deer.

Despite everything, the school day eventually came to an end. Neku packed up his belongings and headed to the art room. The second he opened the door, tension drained from his shoulders. The walls of the room were covered in bright splashes of color with sharp outlines. Something about the art style was familiar to Neku, but he didn’t dwell on it. There was music playing from speakers in the corner of the room, shelves with art supplies, and a sewing machine in the corner. Further back, there were two other doorways revealing a dance studio and a music room with a piano and soundproof foam on the walls. Something in the back of his mind whispered, “ _relax, just be yourself”_ in a way that was vaguely familiar.

Shiki had walked into the room. Neku noticed because the second she saw the sewing machine, she squealed and ran towards it. She began sorting through the bag of fabric underneath the machine. She began talking to Beat with animated gestures. Beat looked lost.

Joshua sauntered in like he owned the place, grabbing some paper and sitting down. He tapped his pen on the table before scribbling across the paper. Music notes flowed across the page.

“Alright, settle down.” Hanekoma’s voice quieted the excited chatter of students. “It’s great to see your enthusiasm, but I gotta talk first. If you don’t remember from the assembly, my name is Hanekoma Sanae, and I’m the advisor of the art club. I was born March 3rd, am blood type A, Pisces, and love the word ‘windfall.’ I’m here because I believe in the power of art. Feel free to treat this room as a sanctuary to express yourselves. That means being respectful to each other here. I will not tolerate bullying. But enough serious talk. The world is your oyster. Now- go create!”

Neku smiled despite himself. He pulled out his headphones and sketchbook and scanned the room. A table would be ideal for art, but all of the tables had people on them. The entire room was full of socialization and conversation. The closest thing to a quiet corner was the one with Shiki sewing furiously. The wall in that area depicted a cat, leaping in action and yet blending in with the rest of the wall, existing but unnoticeable…

Neku touched the mural and allowed his quirk to do the rest. He sank to the floor, back leaning on the mural, as he casually began drawing. His pencil flew across the paper, creating an angular cityscape, occupied only by a spirit with smog-silver hair-

“Making another skirt, okama?” It was the ganguro girl that hung out with Joshua.

The buildings twisted into-

“Yes, actually.” Shiki’s voice was friendly enough, but there was an edge to it. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, Nao-”

Nao scoffed. “All the sewing in the world won’t make you a real girl, you know. I don’t, like, get why you try so hard. I mean, if you want to, like, get into a boy’s pants, it looks like Bito’ll do it no questions asked.”

Neku stood up. The girls looked at him like he had appeared from nowhere. Since he was no longer touching the mural, he had, from their perspective. “Would you mind keeping your yap shut? Some of us are trying to work.”

Nao sneered and turned to Neku. “Yeah? Well-”

“What’s going on over here?” Hanekoma asked.

“Nao won’t stop talking to Shiki. I’m trying to work.”

Nao raised her eyebrows. “Oh, it’s ‘Shiki’ to you, huh? I didn’t know you were, like,  friends with the okama.”

Hanekoma’s face hardened. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t use such hateful words in here, Fukuda-san. This room is a place where everyone had the right to feel safe. If Phones and the young lady want to work in peace, let them be.”

“Fine. I shouldn’t be wasting time with you losers anyway.” Nao walked away.

Hanekoma continued to talk to Shiki, but Neku stopped listening. He sank back to the floor and continued to sketch. The arms of the boy needed to be more willowy…

The world faded away to just Neku and his art. By the time he looked up, the sun was low in the sky and club was over. The only sign of activity was Hanekoma grading in the corner and a song leaking from the music room. Neku paused the music on his mp3 player and nearly dropped his sketchbook.

The music wasn’t a classical ballad like he might have expected. Electronic pulses made a powerful beat, supporting a strong melody of synthetic notes, all complementing the voice excitedly rapping in English.  

Joshua’s voice.

The song ended not long after. Neku stood up, planning to step away from the mural to say goodbye to Hanekoma, when Hanekoma spoke.

“Not bad, J.”

Joshua exited the music room and leaned against the doorframe. “Thanks, Sanae.”

_Sanae? J? These two know each other? I can’t leave now, they’ll notice me._

“How’s school treating you so far?”

Joshua frowned. “It’s… alright. It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“Make any new friends?”

Joshua scoffed. “Hardly. But Nao and Sota should keep everyone else off my back.”

Hanekoma sighed. “Are you looking for real friends, Josh? Your roommates look nice.”

“If I even look at Shiki they’ll group me in with her. It’s bad enough we share a room.”

Hanekoma started putting papers back in a folder. “I’m doing my best to advocate for a looser dress code, but she needs allies. Beat can’t protect her by himself.”

Joshua shrugged. “I don’t see how any of this is my business.” He stood next to Hanekoma, waiting for him to finish gathering his stuff.

“What about Sakuraba?” Hanekoma opened the door for Joshua.

Neku double-checked that he was touching the cat mural currently granting him his invisibility.

“What about Sakuraba? He rips into anyone who even looks at him. It’s only a matter of time before they go after him. He sticks out too much.”

The pair left the art room, and the door closed behind them. “I don’t know,” Hanekoma said. Neku had to strain his ears to hear his next words. “Something tells me you two would get along.”

Neku waited for a couple of minutes before leaving. When he returned to the dorm room, he noticed that the rainbow flag on Joshua’s bed was gone.

The rest of the week passed by in similar fashion. The three boys never got dress-coded again; Shiki helped Beat with his tie, Joshua started to wear his, and Neku learned about the existence of the clip-on tie, but Shiki always wore a skirt and was dress-coded by lunch. Beat and Shiki stuck together, talking by themselves in the corner while the rest of the class tormented them. Nao and Sota were especially cruel, but Joshua never joined in. When they were in the dorm together, he never looked her in the eye.

As for Neku, he simply didn’t exist. Teachers didn’t call on him, students never approached him, and his roommates were happy to ignore him. He filled his sketchbook and made dozens of pins.

_If the rest of the school year goes like this, I hope it never ends._

But on Monday, Yashiro threw a wrench in the fragile routine.

“Misaki, that’s enough. Konishi wants to see you about your refusal to comply with the dress code.”

Shiki left the classroom. Class continued.

Neku didn’t see her again until lunch.

“Leave me alone!” she shouted.

Beat looked around to see if there was anyone around them. But it was clearly meant for him.

“Shiki, what’s wrong?”

“You-you keep following me around. But I-I-I don’t want to be around you anymore.”

Beat’s face was desperate. “What did I do wrong?”

“Just go away.” Shiki’s voice hardened.

“Okay.”

They sat alone, each on the other end of the room. The room filled with nasty chatter, and the lights wouldn’t stop flickering.

Girls were such crybabies.

Objectively, this fact was fine. Neku didn’t have any female friends (or any friends), so he normally didn’t have to deal with tears. Their emotions were their business.

But that night, crying was going to ruin his freaking life.

The rest of the room was fast asleep. Beat’s soft snores filled the room, and Neku could see Joshua curled up, relaxed in the way he only did when he was sleeping.

But Neku couldn’t sleep. Shiki’s crying was too loud.

He tossed and turned for an hour, trying to block the noise with his pillow, waiting for her crying to die down. But it never did. If anything, it intensified with time.

Finally, Neku stood up and stamped over to Shiki and Joshua’s bunk. He sighed. “What’s wrong?”

“Like you care.” Her voice was muffled.

“I don’t. But you’re crying too loud. I can’t sleep.”

“And you think me dumping all of my problems on you will help.”

“Well-”

In his mind’s eye, he saw dark hair and a blinding smile.

“ _Sometimes all people need is a good listener._ ”

Neku’s face darkened. “I’ll listen to you. It might help.”

Shiki wiped her face on her sheets and stood up.

“Well, we can’t talk in here,” Neku said, “And if we leave the room, we’ll get in trouble for breaking curfew.”

Shiki opened the window. “My quirk can take care of that.”

She waved her hand. The streetlight outside of their window bent down to the window like a horse bending down to eat. Shiki climbed aboard and held out her hands. Neku paused, but took her hands and held on as the lamppost let them down on the other side of the fence.

They slid off. Neku rubbed his shoulders and shivered. “Damn. I forgot my fire pin in the room.”

“Sorry.” Shiki’s face was blank.

“So, what’s with you and Beat?”

Shiki took a deep breath and looked away. “It’s for his own good.”

Neku raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, because he’s so good at making friends without his little sister complex.”

“He doesn’t have a complex.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

“Whatever! That’s besides the point. You know how I keep wearing skirts to school?”

“Yeah. You think the teachers would give up.”

Shiki curled up, grabbing her knees. “Remember how I was sent to Konishi’s?”

“Yeah.”

She looked away. “She was really scary. I can see why students call her the Iron Maiden Basically, she told me if I didn’t stop breaking dress code, she would start punishing Beat. So I told her I didn’t care, that we weren’t very close anyway. She called my bluff, so I had to make it official.”

“Why do you keep wearing that? Looks like it’s more trouble than it’s worth.”

Shiki huffed. “You don’t get it. Being forced to wear uniform pants is awful. The dysphoria is enough to make me feel nauseous. Do you think I want to be called out? Do you think I want to be ridiculed? I wish I could just wear pants. But I just go through the whole day with this awful feeling when I do. I can’t concentrate on anything besides how gross I feel… you could never understand.”

Neku shrugged. “Okay, then. Screw Beat. Who cares if he gets punished?”

“What?”

“Who needs friends? They just laugh and talk like idiots and pretend to agree with you so you end up caring about them… exposing yourself… getting hurt.” Neku’s voice was rising with anger. “Screw it! I don’t want anyone dragging me down, and you shouldn’t either. You did the right thing by cutting him off. Other people are garbage.”

Shiki sighed. “Have you ever had a best friend? One who you could go dumpster diving with and have a good time?” She waved her hands frantically. “Not literally, of course, I don’t mean to imply that you’ve lived on the streets or anything, but someone who you could be with and do nothing together.”

Neku looked down and kicked the sidewalk. “Yeah, actually. And I can say, with confidence, that it’s not worth the pain.”

“I don’t know about that. Yeah, I can’t see Eri right now, but I know that we’re still friends. And even if I never I saw her ever again, the joy from our memories would make the pain worth it.” She looked up and smiled. “Sorry for being so cheesy.”

“Hey, girls are emotional. It’s one of those universal truths.”

“Thanks, Neku.”

“Who the hell takes that as a compliment?”

“Someone who gets called a ‘fake girl’ every day.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

They sat there in silence, staring at the skyglow from Tokyo as if it were an astrological body. Neku had finally stopped shivering. The wind rustled his hair and filled his lungs. He sat down next to Shiki.

“Not that it’s any of my business, but are you going to tell Beat about this? He’d probably care more.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll do that. I didn’t want to get him involved, but I guess he has the right to choose. And don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone you’re a softie.”

“‘Softie?’ Are you high?”

Shiki laughed. It was a nice laugh.

Neku was groggy from the night before, so it took him a couple of seconds to register that it was Beat who had plopped his tray down at Neku’s table. He was shoveling food in his mouth on the other end of the table, but Neku was surprised he dared to be in his proximity.

He was shocked out of his train of thought with the clank of another tray hitting the table. He was less surprised to see Shiki on the other end of it.

“Can we talk, Beat? I have to apologize.”

Beat didn’t even look up. “What for? I’m sorry for followin’ you around so much.” He sighed. “I really am lost without Rhyme.”

“Beat…” Shiki sighed. “I just told you those things to make you go away.”

She told him the whole story, excluding her conversation with Neku.

“That bitch!” Beat stood up. “What’s it matter if you’re wearing the boys’ uniform or the girls’ uniform, huh?”

Shiki tugged on his shirt. “It’s okay; there’s no need to freak out.”

“Bullshit! If she’s going to punish me for you wearing a skirt, then I’m going to wear one too!”

Shiki let go and waved her hands around. “What? You don’t need to do that!”

He smiled. “I want to. ‘Sides, think of their faces. Now, where did you get those skirts?”

Beat’s smile was contagious - Shiki’s split across her face in an instant. “It doesn’t matter. I think I have one that was too big for me. If we run, we won’t be late for class.”

As usual, Minamimoto didn’t give either of them a second glance as he launched into his lecture about vectors, but Neku could hear Beat’s excited leg bounce from two rows away. Everyone in the class noticed, and Neku heard cell phones go off for the rest of the class.

_Don’t these idiots have anything better to do?_

He could feel the collective excitement in the air as Minamimoto left the classroom and Yashiro entered. As Beat was in the front, Yashiro noticed his skirt immediately when the class stood up. Neku smiled as she bared her teeth and clenched her hair.

“Bito!” she screeched, “What is this?”

Beat grinned. “I look pretty good, right?”

The class exploded into chatter. Neku glanced at Shiki, who couldn’t keep her grin off her face.

“ENOUGH!” Yashiro’s eyes were practically glowing in rage. “Bito, report to the counselor's office. NOW. Don’t even think about returning until you are dressed in the proper uniform!”

“Fine. I ain’t afraid of no Ironface.”

Yashiro’s lips curled into a smug sneer. “That’s because you haven’t met her yet.”

Beat calmly walked out of the classroom.

Yashiro took a deep breath. “We can now begin the lesson now. Pass up your worksheets from yesterday…”

Shiki was kicking her feet under the lunch table.

“Happy Pinky forgot to call you out on your skirt or scared for Beat?” Neku asked.

“Both.” Shiki ate almost as quickly as Beat, as if she were afraid that someone would take the food from her. Maybe she was. “Konishi’s quirk is really scary. She can change how you see things. When I was talking to her, there was a mirror behind her so I could always see my reflection, and it was really distorted. I’ve made enough clothes to know exactly how I look in the mirror, you know? And she made my shoulders really wide and made my cheekbones deeper than they really are, like I wasn’t wearing makeup. Besides, when I peeked in the other day, there wasn’t even a mirror in there.”

“That’s terrifying. Why isn’t she a villain, or even a hero with that power?”

“Who says that this isn’t just her day job? Anyway, it’s not just her quirk. She’s really condescending. Like you’re just interrupting her perfectly planned life, you know?”

Neku finished off his soup. “To be fair, you kind of did.”

Shiki smiled cheerfully. “Good.”

Beat slammed his tray on the table as a greeting. “Hey Shiki.”

“Beat! How did it go?”

“Pretty good. Apparently, Rhyme is doing really well in middle school. She’s made new friends and everything!”

Neku and Shiki exchanged glances. “Wait,” Shiki said, “weren’t you sent there for breaking the dress code? How come you guys started talking about your sister?”

“Well, she asked why I was sent there, and I told her I was wearing a skirt. She said something about childishness, an’ I stopped listening ‘til she said Rhyme’s name. She spent a long time talkin’ ‘bout our grades n’ stuff.

“So she was comparing you,” Neku said.

Beat shrugged. “I guess. Rhyme’s always been smarter, you know? She’s the one who inherited both our parents’ quirks an’ she’s always been at the top of her class.”

Neku’s face darkened. “So the only reason she brought Rhyme up was to-ow! What was that for?”

Shiki has elbowed him in the gut. “Shut up,” she hissed. “Whatever she did to try to mess with his head obviously didn’t work. If we explain it it’ll mess him up.”

“Fine,” Neku grumbled. “But you didn’t have to fricking elbow me like that.”

Shiki pulled out her notebook and handed it to Beat. “Here are the notes you missed from today. Here, I’ll take your tray while you copy them. Ask if you have any questions.”

Neku picked up his tray and followed Shiki. He was trying to catch up to her when it happened, so he didn’t see the signs.

A student watched them approach and got up. He was carrying a bowl of soup as he stepped in front of Shiki and fell. It was obviously an intentional stumble, and Shiki stepped back. Neku reacted a second too late, and he felt warm soup splash all over his pants.

Neku didn’t think, he just reacted. He grabbed a pin he had on the inside of his blazer and glanced at it before activating it. An arc of electricity fired at the student, fast as thought. The student cried out in pain, but Neku was already storming out of the cafeteria. Shiki placed their trays in the bin and hurried back to her seat.

It took a couple of inquiries to find the nurse’s office. He knocked on the door.

“Come in!” the nurse called. She wore a lab coat and had long black hair. His nametag said “Fumiko Nishimura.” She looked Neku up and down and frowned.

“Here for a change of clothes? Sorry, but we’re out of boys pants your size. The okama and her friend have borrowed them all and have yet to return them.”

“I don’t care what it is, just get me some new clothes,” he hissed.

“What do you want me to do? Give you a skirt?”

“Nice skirt, Sakuraba-chan,” Nao called.

Neku flipped her off and scanned the home-ec room. The only available counter space was next to Joshua. He had raised his eyebrows at Neku’s entrance but otherwise kept his mouth shut and face blank.

“Sit down Sakuraba,” Higashizawa, the teacher, ordered. He glowered under the ram horns that grew out of the top of his head. “Today we’ll continue our healthy eating unit. Generally speaking, there are five food groups…”

A crumpled roll of paper landed on his desk. He unfolded it. It was Beat’s handwriting.

“ _Why’re you wearing a skirt???_ ”

Neku rolled his eyes but pulled out a pen. While Higashizawa was looking elsewhere, Neku scribbled a reply and handed it back.

“ _Ask Shiki don’t bug me with it._ ”

There was a short burst of whispering, then the paper made its way back to his desk.

“ _She said some dick threw soup on you but she don’t know why you have a skirt???_ ”

Neku sighed. “ _Well between the two of you, all of the loaner pants from the nurse’s office are gone. They only had skirts left._ ”

The next reply was in Shiki’s handwriting.

“ _:D”_

Neku rolled his eyes. Higashizawa said something and the rest of the class turned to their partners and started talking.

Joshua turned to Neku, smug smile on his face. “Well? Do you know what we’re doing or were you too busy flirting?”

“Fuck off.”  
Joshua raised his eyebrows. “So that’s a ‘yes,’ you were too busy flirting.”

Neku’s face darkened. “Pretty brave words for the guy with the gay pride flag.”

Joshua froze. A scowl drew across his face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Anyway, we’re sharing our favorite foods.”

“Why?”

Joshua shrugged. “To fill the time? To create a baseline of our eating habits? To break the ice? Either way, I don’t care.”

“Well, that’s one thing we have in common.”

Joshua frowned and twirled a strand of hair with his finger. “Shio ramen.”

“What?”

“It’s my favorite food. What’s yours?”

“Chicken nuggets.”

Joshua smirked. “I’m not surprised.”

“Bite me.”

Something hit the back of Neku’s head. He turned around.

“What’s your favorite food, Neku?” Shiki asked.

“Why do you care?”

Shiki blinked. “Because we’re friends?”

“We’re not friends,” Neku snapped.

The whole class was quietly starting at him. Higazawa had his hand up, signaling the end of conversations. Neku turned back around and glowered at the board for the rest of class.

Behind him, Shiki put her head down and sighed.

...

After class, Beat grabbed his arm. Neku stiffened and turned.

“What the hell’s your problem?” Beat shouted.

“The fuck’s yours?” Neku retorted.

“My problem is you shittin’ over Shiki all the time when she’s jus’ trying to be nice.”

“This is why I don’t want anyone talking to me. I have two conversations and suddenly we’re friends? I don’t want you guys following me around. How many times do I have to repeat myself?”

Shiki walked up and nudged Beat. She smiled sadly. “It’s okay. I was being kind of pushy.”

“Yeah, you were. You still are.”

“C’mon Beat. Let’s leave him alone for once.”

Beat growled. “You piece a’ dirt! Fine, Shiki. Le’s bounce.”

Neku stalked to the art room and made a beeline for a table in the corner. He opened his bag to pull out his sketchbook and froze.

Neatly placed on top of all of his stuff was a headphone case he had never seen before. The top was decorated with a painstakingly accurate applique of CAT’s Over The Top mural. Inside was a note.

 

 

 

 

> _Hey, Neku._
> 
> _I noticed you had a pair of CAT’s limited edition headphones, so I figured you were a fan. This way, you can carry your headphones in your backpack without them getting scratched up or breaking._
> 
> _I know you don’t like talking very much, and I don’t know what happened to make you adverse to other people, but I’m here for you if you ever need a good listener. I can’t guarantee I’ll help, but you won’t know until you let_ _me_ _someone in._
> 
> _Here for you,_
> 
> _Shiki :)_
> 
>  

Neku sat there, staring at the case as if it were a gravestone. He sighed.

_What am I doing?_

“A fan of CAT’s, huh?”

Neku whipped around at the sound of Hanekoma’s voice. “Yeah. You know him?”

Hanekoma smiled and gestured at the murals on the walls. “He’s a friend of mine. Who do you think did all of these murals?”

The comforting words, the sharp outlines, the bright colors, it all made sense.

“C-CAT did these? I should have known. That voice in my head... that was CAT’s Imprint quirk?”

Hanekoma smiled like a cat with a bowl of cream. “Yeah. You know, not many people consciously sense it.”

“Really?”  
“Yeah. Apparently it depends on the individual. Anyway, what’s with the skirt? I heard Bito had one on today as well. Did I miss the message about uniform switch day?”

Neku blinked. “It was more like a coincidence. The teachers keep making Shiki change into the loaner pants, so when some dick spilled soup on me, they only had skirts available. And Konishi threatened to punish Beat for Shiki breaking dress code, so he borrowed one to annoy her.”

Hanekoma threw his head back and laughed. “Really? I would have payed money to see that. They must be really good friends.”

Neku looked down. “Y-yeah.”

“Don’t look so down, Phones. You gotta expand your world, enjoy every moment with all you’ve got. Hard to do by yourself, yeah?”

“I guess.”

 _Was having Shiki around today really that bad?_  

Neku sighed. He already knew the answer. He put his headphones in the case, put the case in his bag, and left the art room.

His button maker was in their dorm room, after all.

* * *

 

“Here you go.”

Shiki had a polite smile on her face before she even turned around to face Neku. “The case was a gift. You don’t have to pay me back- you don’t owe me anything. I was just worried about your headphones getting damaged. It was bugging me a bit, if I’m being really honest.”

Neku blinked. “Oh. Well, it’s not much, but I made you something back.”

“I told you, you don-”

“Just take the pin.”

Shiki complied. “Is this the school’s emblem?’

“Kind of, yeah. It’s cooler upside down. Put it on.”

Shiki looked around nervously. “But you have one on. Aren’t you worried people are going to have the wrong idea?”

“Just do it. Please.”

When she began to fasten it on her blazer, Neku touched his own and reached out with his mind.

“ _I’m sorry for snapping at you._ ”

Shiki’s eyes became a wide as saucers. “Neku, what?”  

“ _It’s my quirk. I can make art do certain things based on my interpretation of it. If you touch the pin and think something at me, you can communicate telepathically.”_

Shiki screwed her eyes closed and touched her pin. “ _No way!_ ”

“ _Listen, alright? Because I’m not going to repeat myself. I’m grumpy and hate small talk. I don’t like talking a lot. And I’m in a reform school for a reason- I’ve done things. But, for some reason, you still want to talk to me and try to be my friend, you know where I am._ ”

“You know it, Neku. I’ll see you downstairs for breakfast.”

“Uh, one more thing.” Neku grabbed her arm. “Can-can you tie my tie?”

Shiki smiled.

A week passed. Instead of sitting alone, Shiki and Beat usually joined him during meals. Neku never started conversations, but he would input comments or answer questions. He noticed that people were less likely to mess with Shiki or Beat when he was there; word of his retaliation for the soup spillage must have spread. The little homework he did was easier with Shiki by his side, and he had to admit that having to explain the material ten times to Beat helped him learn it better.

The skull pin was mostly unused, but that was fine. Shiki still wore it and the gesture had been made.

Class was a dull fever dream drifting in and out of focus most days. He absentmindedly took notes, pretending to pay attention. Shiki wasn’t even trying; her quiet snores finally caught Minamimoto’s attention.

“Misaki!” Minamimoto called. “What’s the answer to this question?”

Shiki jolted awake and stood. The class in general had given up on Minamimoto ever enforcing dress code, but were staring at her like sharks on a blood trail, waiting for her to fail.

“ _Neku! What’s the answer? I wasn’t paying attention._ ”

“ _You’re using my gift to cheat in class?_ ”

“ _Yes!_ ”

Neku smiled. “ _Good. I knew you weren’t a goody-two-shoes._ ”

“ _Please!_ ”

“ _He just said it. It’s 2x._ ”

“Well, Misaki?”

“Sorry, I was just mentally checking my work. It’s 2x.”

Minamimoto smiled. “Finally, one of you heteropascals got it.” He looked up at the clock. “It seems I’ve run out of time. Oh, before I forget, Sakuraba: it’s time for your appointment with Konishi.”

Neku yawned and started packing his things. Shiki whipped around to look at him.

“ _Holy shit! You didn’t even get any warning. Are you going to be okay?_ ”

“ _Yeah. I mean now that I know her quirk, she’s not going to be able to mess with me._ ”

Shiki pursed her lips. “ _I guess… be careful anyway, okay?_ ”

“ _Sure. I’ll probably be back by lunch._ ”

“ _You can copy my notes then. I’ll be sure to be extra thorough. And I won’t fall asleep this time._ ”

“ _Thanks, Shiki._ ”

Konishi’s office was bare. The walls were whitewashed, decorated with only a teaching certificate. There was a desk and two chairs facing each other. One was large and cushioned, the other was small and wooden. When Neku opened the door, Konishi was already perched in the larger chair, peering over her glasses at a clipboard in her hand.

“Ah, Sakuraba. Please, take a seat.” Her voice was haughty but melodic.

Neku dropped his bag next to his chair. “I already know all your tricks, lady, so let’s hurry this up.”

“Impatience and a lack of respect of authority,” she said. “It’s to be expected.”

Except it wasn’t Konishi who said it. She hadn’t moved and her voice was the same distant lilt, but she was suddenly shorter, in a middle school uniform with medium-length pink hair, wearing the same hat she always wore.

Neku screwed his eyes shut and took a deep breath.

_That’s not Her. She’s messing with you, that’s not Her, you don’t have to see Her ever again._

“You know all my tricks, huh? There’s no need to feel afraid, you know. I thought something familiar would make you feel more comfortable.”

Neku bit back a bitter laugh and turned his head towards her. He kept his eyes closed.

“You read my disciplinary file. Are you just going to parrot observations of me for an hour, or can I leave?”

“You misunderstand me, Sakuraba. I can’t help you unless I understand you. Tell me about yourself.” Her voice had devolved into a silky whisper.

Behind his eyelids, Neku rolled his eyes. “I attacked someone, so I was sent here. That’s all you need to know.”

“I notice you’ve made friend’s with the school’s local okama.”

“What the hell does Shiki have to do with me?”

Neku heard the scratching of pen on paper. “You do know Shiki isn’t his real name?”

“I don’t give a damn.”

_Remember what she did with Shiki and Beat._

“She… he’s kind of annoying. Follows me around. More of a pain to get rid of than it’s worth.”

_Sorry, Shiki._

“Oh, Neku. You’re not here to talk about your current company. I want to talk about the incident that lead to your enrollment here.”

Neku huffed. “Fine. Talk.”

“None of it’s your fault, you know.”

Neku’s eyes flew open. Konishi’s guise had dissolved, leaving only the counselor with a gentle smile. “W-what?”

Konishi tucked some hair behind her ear and nodded slowly. “Your middle school had a huge problem with bullying. It was only a matter of time before someone snapped. You were forced with the… unfortunate circumstances that lead to your incident. If the school had been better about managing its students, you wouldn’t have to be here right now.”

Neku carded his hands through his hair. His head spun. “I guess…?”

“From what I can see, all of your problems stem from a series of trauma, all of which was out of your control. It says here that you saw an anger management therapist. Did they give you exercises to control your emotions?”

“Yeah...”

“Try to avoid using them. They’ll only suppress your trauma further.”

_Not like I ever used them in the first place._

Out loud, he said, “Alright. Anything else?”

“The accident wasn’t your fault either.”

Neku choked on his breath. He felt as though the chair had been pulled out from under him and he was falling without hitting the floor. He screwed his eyes shut and forced himself not to cry.

_Every time I think she’s done, and every time she pulls something else out._

Konishi kept talking. “There was a hero festival that day. I read about it in the paper. There were dozens of heroes who could have healed your friend, but they were all too busy celebrating themselves.”

Tears slipped through Neku’s eyes, dripping onto his hands.

“How… why… what do you want from me?” He failed to bite back a sob. A hand on his shoulder drew his head up.

“I want to help you,” his friend’s face said.

Neku grabbed his bag and fled the office.

Neku put his chin on his knees and closed his eyes. His thoughts were spinning like a washing machine, turning subjects over and over again but never settling or moving on. The urge to throw up came and went, but the dizzy weightlessness never left. He sighed for what felt like the millionth time.

“Hey.” A nudge on his shoulder caused him to look up. It was one of the hall monitors, the one with bleach blonde hair. “You gotta get to class.”

Neku huffed, but didn’t move.

The hall monitor paused and sank to the ground next to him. “First appointment with Konishi-san?”

“How’d you guess?” Neku growled.

The monitor chuckled. “She can be a bit harsh. I left crying my first year.”

“You’ve been here for more than one year? I thought the reform program was only a year long.”

“Most people pass after one year. I was part of the chunk that took two years before they cleared my record. Only a couple of people have ever needed three years. My name is Tanaka, but you can call me 777. Inside joke.”

“If your record is clear, why are you still here?”

777 smiled wryly. “I got a job as a dorm monitor. My resume isn’t exactly glowing right now, so I needed any opportunity I could get. Konishi-san is actually the reason I got the job.”

“Why would she help you?”

777’s friendly smile faded. “That’s her job, you know. She might be harsh, but she’s the only reason I’m going to be able to have a job. At my first appointment, she told me I was never going to amount to anything if I didn’t start studying. I told her I didn’t care. I’m quirkless, you see, so I heard that from a lot of kids my age. I wanted to be a rock star back then. Spent all my time working on my music. But actually hearing that from an adult for the first time scared me, so I started being more serious about school. I made some new friends - I think Tenho is the dorm monitor on your floor - and I pulled my life together.”

“If you’re all reformed and stuff now, why is your hair bleached?”  
777 smiled sheepishly. “I still do rock music as a hobby, you know? And the teachers are much less strict on those who’ve passed the reform program. They know we’re doing all right. They’ve got other things to worry about.”

“Thanks,” Neku said dryly.

“No offense,” 777 said as he stood up. He held out a hand, which Neku knocked aside. “Don’t be like that. If you keep to the straight and narrow, you’ll be out of here by year’s end. Who knows, maybe you’ll be a monitor in your third year, too. Anyway, you should get back to class. I think class 1-C has home-ec right now. Make sure to let Higashizawa-sensei know that Kiryu’s next.”

“Whatever.” Neku picked up his bag and walked away, ignoring 777’s sigh.

Neku stopped by the bathroom on the way to splash water on his face. His eyes weren’t red anymore, but they carried a broken vulnerability that he couldn’t manage to shake.

The class mostly ignored him as he walked in. They seemed to be in the middle of a discussion. Once again, the only open seat was next to Joshua.

“Well well well,” he drawled, “look what the cat dragged in.”

Neku dropped his bag on the ground and threw himself into the seat. “You’re a prick and I’m not in the mood to deal with your bullshit right now. But you’re next to see Konishi.”

Joshua just raised his eyebrows. “Oh really?”

“Listen, you’re not the worst human being I’ve ever met, even if you are a pain in the ass, so I’m warning you: watch yourself in there. She’ll pull up every dirty secret you’ve ever had and throw every mistake you’ve ever made back in your face.”

Joshua’s face didn’t change. “I figured as much.”

“ _Neku,_ ” Shiki called through the pin, “ _are you okay? You look really shaken up._ ”

“ _I’m okay. I just need to be left alone right now._ ”

“ _Okay._ ” She didn’t sound very convinced. “ _I’m here if you need me._ ”

Joshua finished packing his things. “Well, I’m off. Wish me luck.”

He didn’t look worried at all. Neku almost hoped she’d chew him up and spit him out.

Almost.

He didn’t hate anyone that much.

* * *

When he got back to room 204 after dinner, Shiki was hurriedly hemming a bright blue skirt. On second glance, little bears became visible.

“Uh, no offence,” he said, “but bright blue isn’t really your color.”

Shiki didn’t even look up. “It’s not for me,” she said. “I do commissions sometimes. What time is it?”

“That good at clothes-making, huh? It’s just past seven. Why?”

“Good. I have enough time to hem this well.”

“Wait, who is this for? Do you have to finish this tonight? It’s not like you can leave campus to ship it.”

Shiki looked up and smiled. “She’s coming here. Would you like to meet her? Oh, I forgot to ask you if you needed anything. You don’t look like a porn addict or a druggie…”

Neku frowned. “Porn addict? Druggie? Who the hell is this chick?”

“Haven’t you heard of the Bear?”  
“Everyone on campus knows about the Bear. I just thought they were a myth to get students busted on attempted smuggling. Anyway, you’re friends with the Bear?

“Eri introduced us. Friend of a friend.”

“Beat was wondering if she could pass a message to Rhyme.”

Shiki frowned. “Shit. I forgot about that. Coco takes favors as payment, but the the clothes I make are only enough for my hormones. I was going to make her something else, but I didn’t get any inspiration and I ran out of time…”

“There’s still time.”

“She’s coming at eight, but it’s always good to come early, and I still need to add some finishing touches on the shirt…”

Neku gathered his pens and his button maker. “I wasn’t really talking to you. This Coco, she likes cute stuff, right?”

…

The air was thick and uncomfortable, and only partly because there were two dozen teenagers packed into the boy’s locker bathroom.

“Woah,” Neku said. “It’s so crowded. Why does this have to be in here, though?”

“It’s the Bear’s quirk,” Joshua said. He somehow managed to perch on top of a stall divider as if it were a throne. “She can only teleport to a specific location such as ‘the broken toilet stall in the Union of Growth’ or ‘that hole in the ceiling in Pegaso’s headquarters where someone put a picture of a cat.’”

Beat scratched his head. “What?”

“What the hell are you doing here?” Neku asked. “You don’t strike me as a porn addict or a druggie. Well, now that I think about it…”

Joshua’s perpetual smug smile dropped. “I’m just curious.”

“Sounds like something a snitch would say.”

“You must admit there’s a bit of spectacle to it.” The smile was back. “The Bear has the ability to fill her demand plus some, but she enjoys watching customers fight over the supply. So I’ve heard.”

“You talk weird, Yoshu-chan,” Nao giggled.

“Hello, Nao. What brings you here?”

“I ran out of foundation. I hope Bear-chan doesn’t choose the stupid okama over me.”

“The stupid okama,” Shiki snapped, “can fucking hear you. Don’t worry, Nao-Nao. I don’t need makeup.” She smiled. “I do hope you get chosen, though. You need that makeup so your boyfriend doesn’t have to close his eyes every time he fucks you.”

“Damn!” Beat yelped.

“Listen here you little shit,” Nao snarled.

A soft poof interrupted her.

“I’m here!” The cutesy voice echoed through the bathroom.  

Neku looked up. Perched on the other stall was a blonde girl in a pink hoodie. She wasn’t much younger than the teenagers gathered below her, maybe thirteen or fourteen, but her cutesy clothing and purple hair streaks gave her a youthful look.

“Coco!” Shiki squealed.

“Hello, Bear-san,” Joshua said.

Coco drooped a little when she noticed him. “Aw, this is my spot. I’ve never seen anyone else up here, though. What do you need?”

Joshua tilted his head in thought. “How about the master key of the school building?” He dug through his pockets and pulled out a 5000 yen bill. “All I have, I’m afraid.”

“That’ll do, even with the specialty charge. Keys are only a couple hundred yen to duplicate, ya know?”

“Pleasure doing business.” Joshua smiled.

_Prick._

“Who’s next?” Coco said.

“Coco!” Shiki called. “I have things for you.”

Coco grinned and she lept into Shiki’s arms. “Shiki-chan! I didn’t see you! I brought your medicine.”

“Thank you Coco-chan. Your new outfit is in this bag. I’d show it to you, but I wouldn’t want it to be ruined if i dropped it… Oh! That’s right- I didn’t introduce you guys. Coco, these are my friends Neku and Beat.”

“Nice to meetcha,” Beat said.

“Did Shiki make your jacket?” Neku asked.

“She made all of this!” Coco said. “Cept for the tights. Eri designed everything, but Shiki’s the only one with the magic touch to bring them to life. Speaking of, I have something else for you. It’s a letter from Eri.”

Coco pulled out an envelope and traded it for the bag in Shiki’s hand. Shiki slipped the envelope in her pocket and held onto it as if it were a million yen.

Beat shifted, looking around. The rest of the students waited impatiently, eyes narrowed and lips pressed together.

Neku searched through his own pockets, pulling out the pins he made. “Hey, Coco-chan. What do you think of these?”

She gasped. “They’re so cute! Are they for me?”

Shiki nudged Beat, who jumped.

“Huh? Oh, right. Coco, can you take a letter to my sister?” Beat dug through his pockets. “Waah! The letter’s gone!”

Neku pulled it from his pocket. “You gave it to me for safekeeping, remember? Good thing you did, jeez. Coco, are these good enough for payment?”

“Mmhm! Beat-kun, what’s your sister’s name?”

“Bito Raimu. But everyone just calls her Rhyme.”

“Oh, she’s in the class below mine.”

“Wha? You go to Hero Prep Middle?”

Neku narrowed his eyes. “Hero Prep? I didn’t know your sister was studying to become a hero. And Coco, isn’t this kind of illegal for a hero-in-training?”

Coco drooped a little. Neku, despite himself, felt a prick of guilt.

“I just want to help people. One day I’ll be Coco, the Delivery Hero, bringing aid to people who need it. But for now, it means selling stuff people need in boarding schools like these for practice.”

“People don’t really need porn mags or drugs.”

“Well, porn makes people happy, right? And I only really sell pot- it helps people relax and doesn’t hurt anyone.”

“I guess,” Neku muttered.

Someone by the sinks cleared their throat. Coco straightened up a little.

“I have to serve everyone else now. Thanks for everything, you guys. I’m going to be the most stylish girl in school! Beat, I’ll be sure to bring Rhyme’s letter back free of charge. See you!”

Shiki clutched Coco to her chest before letting go and waving as they left the boy’s bathroom. Joshua slipped out with them.

Neku couldn’t help but look back. “Is she going to be okay in there by herself? I hope no one decides it’d be easier to mug or threaten a tiny middle schooler.”

“You didn’t strike me as someone who’d care,” Joshua said.

“I don’t. Not really. But I’m not a fricking psychopath. I know it’s mostly an act, but she looks like such a kid.”

Joshua pursed his lips like he was tasting a lemon or an unpleasant thought. “People are weirdly familiar with their drug dealers. If someone tries anything, the rest will turn on them, if only to protect their stash.”

Neku sighed. “People,” he spat.

“You said it.”

* * *

“Club is over for today, you know.”

Neku pulled his headphones down. “Sorry, Mr. H. I was just caught up in my work.”

Hanekoma smiled. “I know how that is.” He gestured to the music room, where Joshua’s electronic music was leaking out. “Joshua is the same way. So am I.”

“I haven’t seen your art yet, Mr. H.”

Hanekoma chuckled. “Maybe I’ll show you one day. You have a lot of potential, Phones. You don’t need to copy CAT’s art style.”

Neku looked back down at his drawing. The city elf perched alone in the concrete landscape. “I don’t want to copy CAT, but I can’t help it. I’ve tried looking at other artists, but none of them speak to me as much- not just literally. I really like his color pallette and detail. Most graffiti artists just try to sign their name or write a message, but it’s always too distorted to actually read and appreciate. Other street artists aren’t graffiti-like enough, if you get what I’m saying. It mostly looks like murals, not truly urban art.”

Hanekoma raised his eyebrows. “That’s quite the eye.”

Neku didn’t look up. “My friend showed CAT to me. Everyone else our age wanted to be heroes, but we always knew that we were going to be artists. Heroes save lives, but it’s artists who really make life alive, you know?”

 Hanekoma sat down at the table next to him. “Joshua wants to be an artist too. You guys have a lot in common.”

“Why are you trying to push us together?”

“What do you mean?”

“Never mind.”

Hanekoma sighed. His jaw clenched and his posture drooped in a mixture of anger and resignation. “This school is harsh, treating kids like supervillains. You guys need to stick together, watch each others backs. I wish you didn’t need to.”

“Most of us are criminals.”

“Most of you are kids looking for a second chance. You made a couple of mistakes or were stuck between a rock and a hard place. I wish I could tell you that all of teachers at this school were invested in your future or individual needs, but that’s not true. They’re scared of you- scared and dismissive.”

“They’re scared of us? But we’re just kids.”

“They’re scared of your potential. Or they want to use it.” Hanekoma ran a hand through his hair. “Just be careful. Try to do good. And stick together.” He looked back to the music room and made his voice quieter. The music continued. “Josh is a bit prickly, but he’s a good kid. Try to give him a shot or two.”

Neku began to gather his stuff. “I can’t promise anything, Mr. H. But, if for some godforsaken reason, he wants to be part of our friend group, things might work out.”

Hanekoma’s easy grin was back. “That’s the spirit. I’ll see you tomorrow, Phones.”

“See you, Mr. H.”

* * *

Neku was staring at Joshua, turning Hanekoma’s words over. He seemed lost in thought as he trekked towards Nao and Sota.

“What’cha looking at?” Beat asked.

“Nothing.”

Beat followed his gaze anyway, so they were both looking at Joshua when it happened.

Nao said something, and Joshua froze. Sota came forward and shoved his shoulder, causing him to stumble backwards. He set his tray down and took a step backwards. Nao and Sota advanced, causing Joshua to bump into another gaggle of students.

Things happened quickly after that. Joshua was knocked backwards, and the lights of the cafeteria went dark. A student screamed. A bright flash of light rained down from the ceiling, knocking down students across the cafeteria. When the lights flickered back, Joshua stood alone, surrounded by the prone bodies of his tormentors.

The chatter of the cafeteria was gone, replaced by a stunned silence. Joshua casually walked over to Sota and spat red at his feet.

“For the record,” he said loud and clear, “you couldn’t pay me to molest your ugly ass.”

Shiki, was the first to break from the shocked stillness. She ran towards Joshua, Neku and Beat on her heels.

“Joshua,” she said. “Are you okay? You got hit pretty bad-”

“I’ll be in room 204 after art club. We need to talk, okama.”

Shiki recoiled like she was slapped in the face, but her face shifted into a dark glare.

“We sure do. Okama.”

Joshua walked away without another word. Shiki waited until he left, then walked back to her food.

“What the fuck just happened?” Neku asked.

No one said anything.

The fluorescent lights buzzed.

* * *

The rest of the school day was tense. When the teachers had their backs turned, and even sometimes when they didn’t, Joshua was pelted with insults and small objects. Shiki just sighed when a ball of paper hit her in the side of the head. Joshua kept his head held high, but Neku noticed his hands were shaking.

Art club was even worse. The art usually greeted students with music, the peaceful bubbling of the coffee pot, and Hanekoma’s warm smile, but today the smiles were gone, the coffee machines were quiet, and the speakers were still.

“Sit down, everybody.”

Nao and Sota turned and glared at Shiki, Beat, and Neku, who glared back.

“Recently, there have been rumors circulating around the school involving myself and another student. These rumors are untrue and disrespectful to not only myself, but the student. Any discussion of this rumor is forbidden here.”

“Damn!” Sota called. “He must have sucked your dick real good for you to defend such a fucking loser.”

Rage. Cold, unbridled rage blanketed Hanekoma’s face. Neku swallowed and shrank back.

“Matomo Sota,” he said with a calm voice that could crack diamond, “you have just banned yourself from the art club and the art room. Pack up your stuff and leave. Now.”

Sota spat and grabbed his things, flipping Hanekoma off as he left the room.

Nao glanced between her boyfriend and the wrathful teacher. “You can’t just, like,  kick him out!”

“You’re right. I can’t just kick him out. Fukada-san, you’ve been perpetuating an unwelcome atmosphere here with rude words and ruder actions. You may join Matomo-san in the search for a new club. You are no longer welcome here.”

She stormed out as well, leaving the art room in a chilled silence.

Hanekoma sighed and sank down onto a desk.

“You know,” he finally said, “you’re all just children. We’ve all heard it a thousand times.” He got up and gathered a piece of wood, a nail, and a hammer. “‘The nail that sticks out gets the hammer.’” He pressed the nail onto the wood and gently tapped it. “You all have been labeled nails that stick out, rejects from society. But-”

He slammed the hammer down. Everyone in the room jumped.

The nail was bent over.

“You also slam down on each other without thought. But humans aren’t hammers; humans aren’t even nails. You- we -are individuals, with a thousand times more potential and beauty than a nail. If every individual was slammed down until they were the same as everyone else, there would be no heroes. No artists. No inventors or thinkers or…” Hanekoma trailed off. His voice cracked slightly as he spoke. “The world is hard on you already. Please, do not make it harder.”

The lights buzzed in the tense silence.

“You can go now,” he said. “You can stay here if you want, but I don’t think there will be a lot of creation done today.”

Shiki’s voice echoed quietly through Neku’s head. “ _I heard some other first years talking about it. Apparently, people are saying they saw Joshua and Mr. Hanekoma. Together. Like, together-together._ ”

Something twisted in Neku’s stomach. He swallowed and shook his head.

“ _Holy shit. I… they’re close. But it’s not like that._ ”

“ _How the hell do you know that they’re close?_ ”

“ _Accidentally listened into one of their conversations. I mean, it seems like they go way back, there’s no way…_ ”

“ _We need to talk to Joshua._ ”

“ _Luckily, we seem to already have an appointment._ ”

* * *

Neku opened the door and moved to turn on the lights, but the lights didn’t turn on.

“That’s a pretty extra quirk you’ve got there. Are you going to let us see or-”

A bolt of light embedding into the wall two inches from Neku’s face shut him up.

Joshua was hovering two feet off of the ground, glowing wings of light behind him. More was pooled around the top of his head like a distorted halo, shadowing the rest of his face.

His voice was strained. “I know Bito isn’t smart enough to know what the flag on my bed meant, but you two knew what it meant. So tell me- which one of you told the rest of the school?”

“Are you kidding me?” Neku said. “I don’t give a damn if you’re gay or not. I definitely don’t care enough to tell anyone about it. Besides, who would I tell?”

Joshua turned to Shiki.

“Did you do it?”

Shiki gaped. “No way! I would never betray one of my own like that.”

“It’s okay. I understand if you did. If I were you, I would.”

“Why?”

“Because we all do what we have to in order to survive. One more okama to pick on, and all of the sudden you’re old news.”

Shiki held out her hands. “It doesn’t have to be like that, Joshua. We can help each other. I’m sorry for calling you an okama earlier. I was just really mad because you’re acting out when you don’t have to be alone anymore! So let us help you!”

The lights flickered back on. Joshua sank to the floor.

“If you’re not the ones who outed me, we have nothing to say to each other.”

He left the room without another word.

...Or he tried to. He collided with Beat, who was entering the room, and stumbled backwards. Beat looked down sheepishly.

“Priss! It’s the man of the hour! You were awesome today! You really showed ‘em who’s boss.”

“...Thanks.”

“I never seen fighting like that before. Your quirk is so cool! Do you want to be a hero or something?”

“Beat,” Shiki said, “maybe right now isn’t the best time…”

“Oh, yeah. Screw those rumors, man. You don’t look like the kind of guy who- hey!”

Joshua shoved him aside and walked away.

“Jeez! I get that he’s having a bad day, but I was just tryin’ to help.”

Shiki sat down on her bad, grabbing her pig-like stuffed animal to her chest. “Beat, remember how Joshua hung a rainbow flag on the side of his bed on the first day of school?”  
“I don’t got the best memory, yo. You gotta fill me in.”

“It’s the gay pride flag,” Neku said. “He took it down after the first day of school.”

Shiki fell back on the bed. Neku and Beat sat down next to her.

“Being queer is hard enough without these dicks.” She cracked a small smile. “And mine. I’ve wanted to wear the girl’s uniform for as long I can remember, but I didn’t really get it until I was, like, ten. I came out to my parents a year later.” She took a shuddering breath. “They didn’t take it well, but at least I got to do it. I can tell he wants to be himself, but…”

“I don’t get it,” Beat said. “The rumor that he was gettin it on with Hanekoma-sensei was really dumb. So why is everyone acting like Joshua’s a…” he took a second to think, “guy who likes other guys?”

“He’s flaming enough to light the Olympic torch,” Neku said. “I’m surprised it took this long.”

Shiki shoved him. “Neku… that’s not nice.”

“Why not? You don’t have to be gay to admit he looks good. Most of the boys here wouldn’t know hygiene if it walked up to them and forced their head into its armpits.”

Shiki wrinkled her nose. “Disgusting, but true.” She held up the cat. “What do we do now? Do we leave him alone, or what?”

Neku finally flopped down. Beat followed suit.

“My vote is yes,” Neku said. “For now. But if he’s not back in an hour, I’ll drag him down myself. If I had to experience friendship through dogged determination, he has to suffer through it too.”

“Y’know, Neku,” Beat said, “you’re not that bad.”

* * *

“Don’t worry,” Joshua said as Neku ran towards his perch on the edge of the roof, “I won’t give them the satisfaction of jumping.”

Neku was breathing too hard to retort.

“Where’s the rest of the okama squad? I know Beat could have made the climb here. Or jumped.”

“Didn’t… climb,” Neku panted, “just ran… up stairs.”

Joshua raised his eyebrows. “The door was locked. How did you even find me?”  
Neku collapsed next to Joshua and held up a pin. “Broke the lock. And you can fly- it didn’t take a genius to figure out the rest.”

The wind rustled Neku’s shirt. He pulled out his fire pin and rubbed it on his arms. “Do they really call us that?”

Joshua sighed. “We did, yeah.”

City lights twinkled in the distance.

Finally, Joshua turned to Neku. “Why are you even here?”

“What, I’m not allowed to see if you’re okay?”

“Why do you care?”

Neku sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “Because I get it. People are awful, objectively and to each other. They follow unspoken rules and ostracize people for not following them, destroy anyone who doesn’t agree with them, and act horrible in order to create a sense of belonging.”

“But?”

“But nothing. People suck and I hate being around them too.”

“Then why hang out with Misaki and Bito?”

“Because they get it. They leave me alone when I need it and drag me out of my world. I’ve known them for three weeks and I’ve already changed my perspective. CAT is always saying to expand your world-”

“You can hear his art too?”

“-and they help me do it. As a fellow artist, you know how important new perspectives are. I wasn’t expecting to actually enjoy their company, but that just happened anyway. I can’t promise that hanging out with us will be painless, but what is, really? It’s better than making friends with the popular kids as protection, because we already know you’re an asshole and want to be your friend regardless. Shiki wants to protect you- we all look out for each other unconditionally. So think about it. I think you’d enjoy being part of the okama squad.”

“You’ll just forgive me?”

Neku laughed bitterly. “We’re at villain reform school. I think we’ve all done worse things than turning a blind eye for survival. I’m not mad at you, and Shiki has a ridiculous capacity for forgiveness. Jury’s still out on Beat.”

Joshua scowled at the city. Neku got up and offered a hand to him. He took it.

“One more thing,” Neku said, digging through his pockets with his free hand. “This is for you.” He handed over a pin.

Joshua raised his eyebrows. “The school insignia?”

“Put it on upside-down. It looks cooler that way.”

Joshua rolled his eyes but obliged.   

“ _If you touch the pin, we can communicate like this._ ”

If Joshua was surprised, he didn’t show it. “ _I assume this is part of your quirk. Misaki has a pin like this. Can she hear this?_ ”

“ _Maybe? There’s a certain range to the messages. Try thinking something just to her._ ”

After a second, Joshua spoke out loud. “It worked. Did you hear that?”

“Nope. Anyway, do whatever you want with that. Either way, we should get back to the room. Shiki can sneak us in through the window.”

* * *

“I know this is reform school, but I think prison food might actually be better.”

“Joshua! I’m so glad you joined us,” Shiki cooed.

“What, you’re telling me you have a point of reference?”

Beat made an unintelligible comment into the bowl of rice he was shoveling into his mouth. Neku kicked him under the table.

“Slow down, idiot. No one’s going to take it from you.”

Shiki sheepishly looked up from Beat’s bowl of soup.

“Really, Shiki?”

A gaggle of students looked at the four of them. One of them started walking over with purpose, but the lights flickered and he tripped over nothing. Four glares sent his way seemed to cause him to reconsider.

When they were done eating, Beat tapped Neku’s shoulder.

“Hey Phones? Can I talk t’ you?”

“Sure. What’s up?”

Beat looked around. “I meant alone.”

“Uh, sure.” Neku followed Beat to a relatively empty corner. “What’s up?”

Beat kicked his foot absentmindedly and looked around, avoiding Neku’s eyes. “So, I’ve noticed tha’ you’ve given Priss and Shiki those pins to talk with. And I get that they’re important gifts n’ stuff, but…” Beat sighed and hung his head. “Never mind it, yo.”

Neku blinked. “Oh. Of course I’ll give one to you. I didn’t really think about that. I’ll get you one by tomorrow. Sorry about that.”

“Thanks, man. I just- Shiki said if I got one she’d help me with readings during class, but she said she didn’t want to ask.” He scowled. “Words never stick on th’ page, y’know? They float ‘round an’ are just really hard to read. According to Rhyme, it’s something like dysphoria-”

“Dyslexia?”

“Yeah, that, but my rents jus’ said I was bein’ lazy.”

Neku hummed. “Anyway, the pin’s not a big deal. I’ll get it to you soon.”

“Thanks, Phones.”

* * *

“Beat!” Shiki hissed. “Jumping the fence is an expression! Float down with your quirk next time. You’re lucky you didn’t attract BJ’s attention.”

“I’m no good at goin’ down slowly from small heights. ‘Sides, at least my quirk doesn’t glow like Priss’s.”

Joshua brushed down his clothes. “My quirk,” he drawled, “is the only reason BJ won’t catch us.”

“We could have used my pin,” Neku grumbled.

“That’s better for emergencies,” Shiki said. “We can’t just break the locks all the time; they’ll figure out something’s up.”

Joshua looked at the starless sky pensively. “We could always blame that kid in class A. You know, the one with the spiky hair who wants to befriend everyone. He can open any door.”

Neku scoffeed. “Are you kidding? He never gets into trouble. Makes you wonder how he got sent to the UG in the first place. The only thing remotely villainous about him is his quirk.”

“Thousand yen says he did it for a friend,” Joshua said.

“Are you kidding? I don’t like losing money.”

They walked in comfortable silence until Neku looked over at Beat.

“You’re still wearing your uniform blazer, you idiot.”

Beat jumped back like he had been struck. “Bwaaah! I must’ve forgotten to take it off. I was really cold in our room.”

Shiki practically tore the jacket off him and folded it up. “I’ll stick it in the next alley we see and animate a trash can as a shark or something territorial to guard it.”

Joshua curled his hair around his finger and smirked.“You better hope some drunk doesn’t piss or throw up on it.” His smile faded. “Actually, you better wash it right when we get back. I don’t want something that dirty in our room.”

“We’re all wearing Union of Growth Pins! They’ll catch us anyway.”

Neku rolled his eyes. “No one’s going to notice the upside-down logo on a pin that’s less than three centimeters wide. But they’ll definitely notice a teenager wearing a school blazer with the insignia. That’s the point of uniforms. Besides, I’m still not convinced that Shades hasn’t planted a tracker in all of them.”

“Do you think that’s his quirk?” Shiki asked.

“He might not even have a quirk,” Joshua shrugged. “It’s not that unusual.”    

Silence fell over the teenagers as they ambled down the street, looking back every once in a while to make sure no one from the school was following them. Neku walked in time to the steady beat in his headphones. The city’s streetlights were gradually flipping on, illuminating the sidewalks. Neku noticed Joshua visibly relax as the neon-bright street lights replaced the sunlight. Fuzzy fluorescent afterimages trailed behind them like urban fairies, coalescing into the rough outlines of wings against Joshua’s back. Beat stared at the seductive glow of a vending machine, but a brief search of his baggy pockets yielded only his cellphone and an expired coupon for a restaurant no longer in business. Shiki patted him on the back in comfort.

They descended down the metro staircase, pausing in front of the ticket gates.

 “I think my pass expired,” Shiki frowned.

Beat shrugged and effortlessly bounded over the gates. Shiki raised her hand, and the gate started flapping open and shut. Neku and Joshua slipped through the gates when they flapped open.

“Why could you use your quirk on the gates, but not the vending machine earlier? I was really craving some soda,” Beat grumbled.

“Vending machines don’t look like anything but vending machines, but those ticket gates looked like penguin flippers,” Shiki said. “That’s why the gates didn’t just stay open.”

“Don’t you have an infinite money pin or something Neku?”

“Even if I did, I wouldn’t go sticking it into a vending machine.”

Joshua leaned back in his seat. “I guess I could have pushed one out using the light in there. But I didn’t think of it at the time. Sorry”

“Ass,” Beat grumbled.

* * *

“So,” Neku said as he glanced up the apartment building looming above them, “what’s the plan?”

Beat looked around the street. There were some salarymen walking home, and a woman carrying grocery bags. None of them seemed to be interested in the handful of teenagers crowding the sidewalk.

Beat bent his knees and leapt, landing on a balcony with surprising ease. He slipped into the house before anyone could stop him.

“Beat…” Shiki sighed. “Josh, can you go up there and make sure he doesn’t get caught by his parents?”

Joshua gathered light from the streetlights and took off, entering the apartment with more caution.

Shiki fidgeted. “What if they both get caught?”

Neku looked up at the apartment. “Josh can take care of himself. And something tells me that Beat’s been sneaking in for a long time.”

“True. If someone like Beat manages to be that stealthy, then he must have a lot of practice.”

A couple minutes later, Beat and Joshua descended from the balcony.

“No one was home,” Beat said. “But ramen’s on me!” He held up a 5000 yen bill.

“I know of a good place past the 104,” Joshua said.

“Rhyme wasn’t there?” Shiki asked.

“Nah. It’s weird though. She’s usually studying in her room.”

“Even on Saturday nights?”

Beat’s face darkened. “She’s gotta fill a lot of expirations,” he said.

“Expectations?”

“Yeah. I’ll call her and see wassup.”

While he was on the phone, Shiki turned to Joshua. “Where are his parents?”

Joshua shrugged. “Apparently, his dad’s on a mission and his mom is out with friends.”

Neku frowned. “Is their dad a hero or something?”

“If he is, he’s one of those secret heros or very minor. I didn’t see any posters or anything.”

Beat got off the phone and turned to them. “Rhyme’s people watching by the Scramble Crossing. I told her we’d meet her by Hachiko and then head to ramen.”

* * *

Neku leaned against the statue of Hachiko and scanned the crowd. “I don’t see her anywhere. Funny, I didn’t take her as the kind of person who’d be late to a meet-up.”

As if his words had summoned her, Rhyme descended from one of the buildings, landing in front of her brother and tackling him with a hug.

“Beat! It’s so good to see you!”

Beat held on just as tight and spun her around, sending her black beanie flying. Shiki chased after it.

“You guys have only been apart for a month,” Joshua said. He started walking to the ramen place, and the rest of them followed him.

Rhyme took her beanie from Shiki and smiled. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Besides, I thought you guys weren’t allowed to leave the school grounds.”

“We’re not,” Joshua smirked. “But the dorm guard should be occupied with fixing all of the lights in the boys’ dorm building. Our absence won’t be noticed for at least another two hours. Speaking of, if I use my quirk as a distraction again, they’ll definitely notice. We need a new plan next time we need to sneak out.”

“Rhyme, what were you doing on the top of that building?” Shiki asked.

“I was practicing my quirk. I can sort of read the thoughts of people, especially their goals or intentions, but I have to be physically above them. I like hanging out above Shibuya- it’s like being tuned to a thousand different radio stations at once.”

“Stop by our school sometime- I’d love to know what our teachers are thinking,” Neku said.

“I won’t help you cheat or anything. But I would love to visit. It might be hard, considering that your school blocks all cell service.”

Neku started rummaging through his pockets. “I have something for that. Here.” He handed her a pin. She took it and looked it over.

“It’s the UG’s insignia, but the colors are swapped…?”

He pointed to the same pins on everyone’s shirt. “It goes upside down, so the symbol looks like a skull instead of some kind of nightmare tree. It only works within the same building, generally, but you should be able to communicate with us like a mental walkie-talkie.”

Rhyme touched the pin and closed her eyes.

“ _Hello?”_

Her small voice echoed through their heads.

“ _Hi,_ ” Shiki’s voice responded.

Rhyme opened her eyes and smiled. “Wow! How did you do that?”

Neku put a hand behind his head. “It’s my quirk. It’s hard to explain, but I can assign power to art depending on how I interpret it. This looks like a skull with a hole in the top, so it’s like something can enter the head, like a message…”

“That sounds like a very powerful quirk.”

Shiki made a noise somewhere between a gasp and a squeal and pointed at a bell pendant around Rhyme’s neck. “How did you get that pendant?”

“This?” Rhyme held it up; it chimed softly. “Beat got it for me.”

Beat smiled sheepishly. “Apparently it was really exclusive or somethin’. I just figured she’d like it.”

“Exclusive is the understatement of the year! They sold out in like two hours! Eri would actually kill someone just to see it in real life. Can I invite her with us to ramen?”

Rhyme smiled. “It’s alright with me. What do you guys think?”

Neku looked down.

_I wonder if I’ll ever stop flinching every time I hear that name._

Joshua stuck his hands in his pocket and smiled a rare, genuine smile. “I’ve heard so much about this Eri. I’d love to meet her.”

Shiki’s smile could have blinded the sun. Joshua turned to a shoddy door and opened it for everyone. “We’re here,” he said.

“Welcome!” An old man wearing chef’s clothes and a bandanna greeted them from behind a bar. He was the only person visible in the restaurant, despite the time of day and the hungry crowds milling around the city. The rest of the restaurant wasn’t anything of note, just four beige walls lined with well-worn booths and faded photographs.

“Joshua, if this place is so good, why ain’t there anyone in it?” Beat asked.

Rhyme nudged him. “Beat! Be polite. Don’t judge places by their appearance. Maybe it’s just a slow day.”

“This place doesn’t try to sell itself on anything other than its ramen,” Joshua said. “No hero endorsements, giveaways, or trendy decorations. It usually has a couple more people in here, though.”

They sat down and ordered their ramen.

“Eri can’t make it to dinner with us, but she said she’d meet us at a crepe stand for dessert,” Shiki said. “She knows a good place around here. Joshua, how did you learn about this place?”

He shrugged. “I was walking around the city and was craving ramen. There’s not much to tell. The place a couple of doors down, Shadow Ramen, on the other hand…”

* * *

 

Shibuya glowed in a myriad of fluorescent messages, flashing and shining their messages and hopes. The skies and sidewalks turned into a flickering battle for the attention of the people meandering through the streets like blood through veins. Their conversations and outfits were bursts of individuality like pixels in a screen, coloring the city.

Neku didn’t know if it was the glow of the city lights or his quirk that made Joshua’s hair glow, casting shadows on his scowling face.

“I can’t believe you didn’t drink your broth.”

Neku rolled his eyes. “The ramen was already super rich. I could barely finish the noodles.”

“It’s an insult to Doi-san’s cooking. I guess taking you here was a waste. Why bother giving a dog gourmet steak?”

“Don’t be such a pretentious dick. I could taste the broth just fine on the noodles. Besides, if I drank it, I would have thrown up. That would be an insult to Doi-san.”

Rhyme spoke up, readjusting the take-out container in her arms. “Sorry, Neku. I have to agree with Joshua on this one. Ramen is a soup! You can’t just neglect the broth.”

“I like the noodles in noodle soup. Sue me. It’s not like we could have taken it back like you can, Rhyme.”

Shiki sighed. “What a shame. I wasted so much soup to save room for crepes, and I think I’m still too full to have any.”

Beat checked his pockets. “It’s not like I had the money to buy everyone crepes after the ramen. I only got a couple hundred yen.”

An excited smile split across Shiki’s face. She sped up into a half-jog and pointed at a sign ten meters in front of them. “That’s the crepe shop, right there!” She practically burst through the door. “Eri!”

But the girl in the shop didn’t need to turn her head for Neku to see her face. Her pink hair was a bit longer than it had been that day, but she still was wearing that brown hat she always wore with her uniform.

There must have been a thousand Eris in the city of Tokyo, but Shiki’s best friend had to be the one he had-

His heart felt like it stopped and sped up at the same time. The neon signs were headlights that he froze in, caught between his body’s desire to collapse and his desire to disappear into the night without a looking back. His knees shook, and he felt the stupid noodles  threatening to force themselves back up.

Shiki must have looked over at her new friends to show to Eri, eyes shining in rapture and excitement, but Neku would never know.

He fled into the night.

_Guiltfearangerguiltfearangerguiltfearanger._

Neku let the paints move his hands.

_Guiltfearangerguiltfearangerguiltfearfearfear._

The overpass rumbled above him, the traffic only blending with the ringing inside his head.

_Guiltguiltguiltfearangerfearfearfearangerguilt._

He relished in the smell of spray paint, imagining it coating his lungs and suffocating the fire within him.

_Fearguiltfearguiltfearguilt_

He didn’t even need his headphones, the rest of the world had already melted away into

_Guiltguiltguilt._

Neku took a shaky breath before raising his spray paint cans again.  

“Neku.”

For the first time since he arrived, Neku looked away from the concrete pillar that acted as his canvas.

He bore his teeth. “Joshua, now is not the fucking time.”

Joshua’s face was oddly shadowed. Neku couldn’t get a proper read on it. Maybe it was the lack of light, or maybe it was the _fearfearfear_ that shot through his system all over again.

“We’ve been looking for you for two hours.” His words were oddly neutral.

“Well, you found me.”

Joshua sat down, looking blankly at the cars streaming light just meters in front of them. “BJ’s probably noticed that we’re gone by now.”

“Don’t care.”

Joshua looked up, taking in the mural for the first time. The crouching humanoid demon stared back. Its top half was skeletal, balanced on talons and glowering with glowing eyes. The back half of the spine melted into a red, abstract snake tail with flames on the hind end. A jet of purple flames was spewing from a death-slackened jaw.

“It’s pretty good. CAT would approve.”

Neku belatedly realized he was having a mental breakdown when the news that Joshua knew his favorite artist barely phased him. He stumbled back a couple of steps and collapsed, spray paints still in his hands.

Joshua fixed those unnerving gray eyes on him. They almost glowed purple in the red light of the overpass. “I assume Eri isn’t just an ex-girlfriend.”

That got a bitter chuckle out of him. “I wish it were that simple. She-I-.” Neku closed his mouth again. “It was the opposite problem. She drove me crazy. I hated her. She was a queen bee, talking someone up and then ripping them apart when their back was turned. I-I had a friend. He died.” Neku paused for a long time. “Eri was so nice to me after he died- she always waved when I saw her, brought me into conversations when I didn’t have anyone to talk to. I thought she had changed. I missed him, I still do, but she…” He sighed. “We weren’t even friends, but I overheard her talking one day. She said he was super weird, that maybe…” Neku ground his teeth and clenched his fists. “...maybe he wanted to die. That he jumped into traffic on purpose.”

Joshua looked on, those eyes never wavering.

“The next thing I remember she was dangling half a meter off the ground, hands scrabbling at her throat. I think… I think I used one of my pins to tighten her clothes around her neck or something. I was charged with assault and sent to the UG the next semester.”

Neku finally met Joshua’s eyes. “I don’t know why Shiki’s here, but I bet it’s because of something like theft. Beat probably punched someone who looked at Rhyme wrong… I tried to kill her.” He looked down at his hands. “And out of everyone in the city, she’s Shiki’s best friend. Honestly, I can’t believe a person like her is the same one who taught Shiki how to sew, who bought her lacy underwear or whatever, who sheltered her when her parents kicked her out. Eri is the person who found Shiki’s hormone dealer. And I’m the one who tried to kill her best friend.” Neku looked up again with dead eyes. “You can say something snarky now. I can tell you’re dying to say something.”

Joshua opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, his eyes flickered to a figure moving towards them on the other side of the overpass. It was too short to be Shiki or Beat, hair too spiky to be Rhyme.

“Neku, we need to go.”

“Why? It’s just a kid. He doesn’t even look like he’s in middle school. Someone who still has a kiddy backpack shouldn’t even be out this late.”

“He’s wearing a costume.”

“So?”

“He’s a hero, Neku.”

Sure enough, as the kid became more visible, his speed increased, as if he were chasing them.

“At least ditch the spray cans.”

“What?”

It was too late. The child with spiky hair and unruly mask pointed at them.

“Halt! What are you doing trespassing on city land past curfew?”

Neku rolled his eyes and stood up. He was more than a head taller than the kid. “I could ask you the same thing. Mind your own damn business.”

“We were just leaving,” Joshua ground out.

“Like hell we were.”

The kid looked up at the mural like he just noticed it. He glanced between Neku’s spray paints and the fresh mural. The kid shifted into a fighting stance.

“Listen,” Neku snapped, “I’ve been having a really bad day today, so if you could just leave me alone…”

“Villain! You’re defacing public land! I, Shooter, will stop you!”

Joshua stepped forward, cocky smile on his face. “Good luck, kid. Heroes aren’t allowed to use their… oh.”

Shooter gave a confidant grin and pulled out a piece of plastic. “Hero provincial license! I’m allowed to use my quirk to fulfill the law. And you two are trespassing.”

“Are you serious?”

Joshua’s fists were clenched. “Yeah. My fath- heroes have done more with less. They’re starting younger and younger. The more criminals they get down at this age, the more likely they are to get into a good hero school.”

Neku stormed to the mural and put his hand on it. “You want to play hero so bad? FINE.”

The creature on the mural stepped off the wall and roared.

Shooter flinched. His eyes were wide and he took a couple of steps back, but he recovered fast, shaking his head and clapping his hands together. Glowing clones in rainbow colors shot from him body, launching themselves at Neku. Joshua made a sweeping motion with his hand. The light from passing cars coelesed into a beam that shot out and smacked the light clones into the wall.

Neku’s painting reared up and exhaled a burst of translucent purple flame. Shooter braced for the hit, summoning a red clone to cover him. The fire burned away the clone and poured over Shooter.

Shooter dropped to the ground, hands buried in his hair, stunned by the wave of _guiltfearanger_.

Neku turned away and started putting his paints back into his stash. The creature faded, now only existing on the wall. Neku heard one of Josh’s light beams strike, but he didn’t look back. He started walking away,.

Joshua caught up and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned.

“If you want the last hit, he’s all yours.”

Shooter had pushed himself up so he was crouching on his knees, but Joshua’s last hit had obviously knocked the wind out of him.

“He’s just a stupid kid. We’re leaving anyway.”

“He’ll come after us, you know.”

He felt empty. No fear. No anger. No guilt.

“What do you want me to do, kill him? We’re leaving.”

They walked away from the overpass without another word.

Beat descended from the sky, crashing into Neku like a cannonball, wrapping his arms around him.

“I got you!”

Neku arms scrambled for purchase in a futile attempt to rip Beat’s arms away. “What the hell? Get the fuck off me!”

“Screw that! Y’ scared me an’ Rhyme half to death.”

“Where is your sister?” Joshua asked.

“I took her home as soon as you said that you found Neku. Don’ worry, she managed to sneak in jus’ fine.”

The guilt came flooding back. Neku looked down. “That’s good. _._ ”

“I said don’t worry bout it, Phones. Don’ look so down. ‘M just glad you’re okay. But why’d you run like that?”

His face darkened. “Shiki’s friend Eri… I… we went to the same middle school. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Aight. I get it, yo.”

Shiki was waiting for them at the train station.

Her face was shadowed by the street lights. Neku choked down the urge to flee again.

“We found him,”

Neku choked on air for a few seconds before speaking, voice cracking with emotion.

“I-I told you when I first gave you that pin. I told you I’ve done things to put me in reform school. I told you.”

Shiki’s voice was shaky as well.

“I remember that day. We were going to meet up at the Statue of Hachiko and go shopping. But she never showed up. I waited for half an hour before calling her- she’s never that late- but she didn’t pick up. I kept calling and calling until her parents told me she was being sent to the hospital being checked for brain damage because some kid suddenly lost it and choked her out for no reason. She… she wore a brace for weeks, she hasn’t worn a scarf since, and it was you. You were the one who attacked her.”

“Shiki, I-”

She was crying. “You attacked her. And you never even said you were sorry. You just moved on with your life.”

“I’m sorry!” His voice echoed through the empty station. “I am! I didn’t mean to hurt her, I just wanted her to stop talking. She didn’t know what she was talking about, blaming him for his own death… I just wanted her to stop. And I was angry.”

“You almost killed her.”

“I know.”

“You never even said you were sorry.”

“I was scared. I couldn’t face her.”

Shiki stuck her chin up and balled her fists, like when she was facing their teachers. She took a deep breath and pulled out her phone.

“Call her,” she said.

“Eri Kujikawa”, the phone screen read. “Last call: today at 9:16.”

Neku took a deep breath and hit the call button.

The phone rang.

Brrrrring.

Brrrrring.

Brrrr-

“Hey, did you find him?” the voice on the other end asked.

Neku’s breath caught in his throat.

“Hello? Shiki? Can you-”

“Yeah. Yeah, they found me.”

Silence on the other end.

“Sakuraba.” Her voice was unreadable.

“Kujikawa, I’m sorry.”

More silence.

“Shiki put you up to this, didn’t she.”

Neku took a shaky breath. “I wouldn’t have the balls to do this otherwise.”

“Are you really sorry? Or are you just saying what Shiki wants to hear you say?”

More silence. Neku’s entire body was vibrating with emotion.

“You said horrible things about him. You said horrible things about everyone besides your friend group, but he’s dead. I didn’t want to hurt you- well, that’s not true. But I’m sorry for hurting you. I wish I didn’t hurt you. But if Shiki were dead and someone said the same things you said, you’d want to hurt them too.”

“Shiki’s told me a lot about you. You and Beat and Joshua. You keep her safe, right?”

He thought about the skirts, the school lunches, the names.

“We do the best we can. I don’t know if it’s enough.”

“Listen here, Sakuraba. You hurt me. But as long as you are doing everything you can to keep my best friend safe, I forgive you. Shiki is so precious to me, and I worry about her every day. So many women like her have been killed, you know, and even more have attempted suicide…” Eri sniffed, like she was crying. “If anyone tries to hurt her, do whatever it takes to protect her. Do what you did to me but worse. Promise me that, and I’ll forgive you.”

“I promise.”

“Then I forgive you, Neku. You guys better be getting back. The trains’ll stop running soon.”

Eri hung up. The train arrived. They snuck back to their room without words.

When Neku woke up that morning, Joshua and Shiki were gone.

The previous night sat in his stomach like a bad meal. He closed his eyes and let his feelings wash over him, percolating like spray paint onto concrete. He didn’t know how long he lied there; he only became aware of the world outside of his thoughts when the bed creaked as Beat descended the ladder.

“Shoot. Didn’t mean to wake you up, Phones.”

“Don’t worry about it. I was already awake.”

They got dressed and stumbled down to the kitchen for brunch. Since it was a Sunday, kids milled around lazily in casual clothes and pajamas, making plans for the day or eating listlessly. Neku reached for his pin.

“ _Hey, where are you guys? I can’t find you. Are you not in the cafeteria?_ ”

There was no answer.

“Hey, Beat, have you seen Shiki or Joshua?”

Beat nudged Neku with his elbow. They sat down. “Nah. Haven’t seen them all day.”

“Weird.”

“Yeah. Hey Phones, do you know how to skateboard?”

Neku finished chewing before answering. “I can’t do anything fancy, but I can manage not to fall off.”

“Sweet. I brought an extra board. Wanna sneak out and skate?”

“Sure.”

The omelette was too salty, but Neku still smiled.

When they returned to the room, Neku noticed a note placed on the dresser.

 

 

 

 

> _We’ll be out all day. Please cover for us!_
> 
> _-Joshua and Shiki_

 

“We barely got back in one piece last night, ‘n they wanna sneak out again?”

“I mean, we’re doing the same thing.”

Beat was crouched under the bed, fishing for a second skateboard. “I guess. But we ain’t gunna go farther than a couple’ve blocks. Who knows how deep in the city they are?” He finally grabbed it and stood up, placing them down.

“So, how are we going to do this?” Neku asked. “BJ, Tenho, and 777 are stationed at the front gate, so we can’t just jump the fence like last night.”

Beat opened the window wide and stepped on his skateboard. He handed the second one to Neku and crouched down, arms out.

“Climb on. Who says we can’t?”

Neku sighed, but pressed the spare skateboard to Beat’s back and climbed on it, wrapping his arms around his neck.

“This better work.”

Beat crouched on his skateboard and jumped through the window. Buildings flew beneath them, and Neku tightened his grip around Beat. Beat gagged, and they started falling. It was slower than it should have been, but the impact still threw Neku to the ground.

“What the fuck,” he coughed.

“Sorry, man. It works a’lot better with Rhyme.”

“Rhyme’s fricking tiny, of course it does.”

Beat held out a hand, which Neku took.

“Skate park is ‘bout a block away.” Beat jumped on his skateboard, and Neku did the same.

“Lead the way.”

Beat was different when he was skating. His muscles relaxed, and he flew down the street with grace and ease. A relaxed grin stretched across his face.

He lept into the skatepark without stopping, down the ramp and up without pause. Neku stopped the board and hopped off, panting. There were a handful of kids doing basic tricks and falling of boards, and they all stopped and watched Beat carve through the park with the ease of a fish in water. Finally, Beat skidded to a stop next to Neku.

“Dude, why’re you hesitating? C’mon?”

“First, let me catch my breath. Second, I can’t do tricks for shit. Third, how the hell am I supposed to do anything when you’re over here like some kind of skateboarding god?”

Beat chucked sheepishly. “I’m not that good. Boarding helped me learn my quirk when I was little. My parents really wanted me to get good at it, until they learned I didn’t inherit Dad’s quirk an’ Rhyme was born…”

“Is your dad a hero or something?”

Beat grimaced. “Yeah. He’s an Underground Hero. Wants Rhyme to be just like ‘im.”

“Sorry, man. I shouldn’t have pried.”

“Don’ worry ‘bout it. I already know why you’re here, even though it’s none of my business n’ stuff. It’s only fair.”

Neku sat down and patted the ground. Beat sat down next to him.

Neku bit his lip and looked at the ground.

“Hey, can you be honest with me about something?”

“Yeah, wassup?”

“Are you afraid of me?”

Beat scrunched his face in surprise. “‘Fraid? Nah, man. I ain’t afraid of nuthin, ‘specially not a twig like you.”

“But I almost killed someone. My quirk… do you know how much art there is in the world? Fashion, graffiti, music… they’re all weapons to me. If I were you, I wouldn’t let Rhyme anywhere near me.”

Beat scowled. “You only hurt Eri ‘cause you wanted to, right? If anything, Rhyme’d prolly be safer with you than me- if anyone messed with her, you’d mess ‘em up. Honestly, I was expecting a lot worse. When I arrived at the UG, I assimilated everyone else had done bad things-”

“Assumed?”

“Yeah. So I wasn’t ‘xactly surprised, you know? Sometimes, people lose their temper.”

A kid wiped out on his board. His friends rushed over to help him up, laughing.

“Phones?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think I’d be able to make it as a provincial skateboarder?”

Neku looked at him. “I don’t know anything about skateboarding, but if anyone could make it as a professional ‘boarder, it would be you. Now, c’mon, teach me how to use the ramp without falling off and dying.”

A knock on the dorm room door had Neku bolt upright in alarm.

“Room checks!” Tenho’s bored voice shot through Neku like a bullet.

He reached for his skull pin.

“ _Joshua! Shiki! You better be on your way back from wherever the hell you guys were.”_

“ _Neku?_ ” Shiki said. “ _I think we just got back in range.”_

Beat had gotten up to answer the door. Neku grabbed his arm.

“Stall,” he hissed. “Don’t let him open the door yet.”

Neku ran into the bathroom and turned on the shower before racing back into the bedroom.

_“Haul ass here, yesterday. They’re doing dorm inspections.”_

“You can’t come in,” Beat said.

“Look,” Tenho said, “it’s just protocol to make sure no one’s sneaking out. I’m not going to be searching through your things. Can I just get this over with?”

Beat looked at Neku, who nodded. He opened the door so hard it hit him in the head. As he staggered in pain, Tenho trudged into the room and looked around.

“Where are Misaki and Kiryu?” Tenho’s voice sharpened.

Neku tapped the bathroom door. “In the shower.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Both of them? You do know sexual contact is forbidden.”

Beat started panicking behind Tenho.

“Well, Joshua’s in the shower. Shiki’s… taking a walk around the grounds.”

“Uh-huh.” His voice hardened with suspicion. “Well, you guys were my first stop. When I’m all done, everyone better be in here, or I’ll write you guys up to Konishi.”

“R-right.”

Tenho left. Beat started pacing.

“What’re we gunna do, man?”

“ _You guys better be close._ ”

“ _Open the window,_ ” Joshua said, “ _we’re coming in hot._ ”

Less than a minute later, Shiki slid in on top of her streetlight, Joshua right behind her.

“Where the hell were you guys? You’ve been gone all day and- what the hell happened?”

They were covered head to toe in rainbow paraphernalia. Their necks alone were crowded with leis and beads. Their wrists were covered in those rubber bracelets that would never be anything close to fashionable. Joshua’s rainbow flag was tied around his neck like a cape, and Shiki was carrying a bag with a small blue and pink flag sticking out.

“Happy pride!” she said with a cheeky grin, flashing a peace sign.

“You guys went to pride, and you didn’t invite me?”

“Sorry, Neku,” Joshua said, “no straights allowed.”

“I’m not straight!”

Shiki shoved Joshua. “We would have taken you, but last night was kind of intense, and you guys were- wait a second.” She turned to Neku with intense focus. “You’re not?”

“No, but that’s not what’s important right now. Tenho’s coming back soon. You have to hide all of that crap somewhere, and Joshua, you have to take a shower.”

“Excuse me?”

Shiki glared, but she started the arduous process of ridding herself of the rainbow paraphernalia. “Fine. But this conversation isn’t over.”

 “I told Tenho Joshua was taking a shower and that you were taking a walk. He’ll be back any minute.”

Joshua went into the bathroom. Shiki opened the door briefly to throw her necklaces and bracelets in.

“Well,” Shiki said, “I’m ready for Tenho to come back, so you can talk more about how not-straight you are.”

“Wait.” Beat visibly drooped. “Wha do you mean by straight?”

Neku scowled at Shiki. “Straight means heterosexual: a girl who only likes girls or a guy who only likes girls. I’m bisexual, which means I can like guys or girls.”

“Man, I didn’t know you could like both,” Beat said.

Shiki squealed and clapped her hands together. “We really are the okama squad! And Beat is our token straight guy!”

“We don’t know if he’s straight,” Neku pointed out.

The water in the bathroom turned off.

“True,” Shiki said, “and that makes everything even more exciting!”

“Y-yeah,” Beat said half-heartedly.

Tenho knocked on the door. “Is everyone back?”

Neku pounded on the door, “Joshua, I don’t care what you’re doing, get your ass out here! Preferably with a towel on.”

He emerged, a towel wrapped around his waist. “If you wanted to see me shirtless, Neku, you could have just asked.”

Neku opened the door angrily, pointedly refusing to look at Joshua.

“Yeah. Everyone’s here.”

Tenho took a brief look around and made a mark on the clipboard. “Alright. Be sure to get some sleep. Good night.”

“Night.”

Joshua was singing again.

Neku could only ever hear it when most of the art club had left, as it was normally hidden underneath all of the socialization and music that Hanekoma kept in the background. Whenever his voice became audible, Neku turned off his headphones and listened. After a while, the repetition required for writing and practice would began to grate on him, and he would put his headphones back on, but it was always nice to hear.  

“Got any CDs out yet?” Neku asked him one day when Joshua exited the music room. Hanekoma had left to put some papers away at his school desk, and the rest of the club had left more than an hour ago.

Joshua smiled. “Don’t really have the means of making any quality recordings. Don’t worry, though. When I make it big, I’ll let you design one of my album covers.”

“Where did you learn to sing like that? Or play piano?”

“I was… classically trained. Father thought all heroes should have elegant hobbies. He didn’t expect me to like music more than heroism.”

Neku waited as Joshua finished packing his belongings in his bag.

“So when you finish the reform program, are you going to apply to any music schools?”

Joshua’s smile turned wry. “I already have. I got into some really good ones, too. But Father wants me to be a hero, just like him. Since I refused to go to hero school, he made me go to villain school. I think his words were, ‘if you’re spoiled enough to take hero life for granted, see what it’s like being the villain.’ I think he’s still expecting me to call him, to beg him to let me attend some hero school he bribed.”

Neku laughed. “You’ll show him.”

“You know it.”

Life went on. School came every day, art club was attended, projectiles were blocked, and insults were ignored. Neku and his friends formed a protective bubble of camaraderie around each other, and soon, he forgot what it ever felt like to be alone.

He should have known the peace couldn’t have lasted.

It all started in home economics. They were being lectured on taxes. Neku and Shiki were doodling in their notebooks, and Joshua was spacing out. Beat was sleeping on his notebook until he sat up with an exuberant grin.

“ _It’s Rhyme! She’s learning how to patrol the city, and she’s in the area. She says she can drop by!_ ”

Shiki smiled. “ _That’s great! If you need to ditch class to see her, we can cover for you.”_

Rhyme’s childish sigh echoed through all of their heads. “ _Beat, I messaged you exclusively so I could minimize the disruption._ ”

“ _Don’t worry about it, Rhyme-chan,_ ” Joshua said. “ _None of us were really paying attention anyway. The lecture is about taxes._ ”

“ _Hey,”_ Rhyme said, “ _taxes are important, and we’ll all have to do them one day._ ”

“ _Not me. I’m going to grow up and find a job that’ll pay me to do nothing, and then I’ll pay someone to do my taxes for me._ ”

“ _You’re giving artists a bad reputation,_ ” Neku said.

Beat looked at the clock. “ _Lunch’s in a couple’ve minutes. Meet us at the rooftop!_ ”

“ _Got it. Try to pay attention to the rest of your lecture?_ ”

Shiki sighed. “ _You should know better than to hope for that. Beat hasn’t seen you in months. He’s already packing his bags._ ”

He was trying to be subtle about it, other students caught on and the rest of the class started packing their bags. Higashizawa frowned, but he knew better than to try to stop them.

“ _Beeeeeat._ ” Rhyme groaned. She didn’t quite succeed hiding the fondness in her voice.

Less than two minutes later, they heard Rhyme’s voice again.

“ _Guys? Can you actually hurry up? I need to tell you guys something really important._ ”

Her voice was shaky with fear.

Beat stood up and raced out of the classroom. “ _Rhyme? Rhyme, what’s wrong?_ ”

Higashizawa shouted after Beat, but he was already too far gone. The rest of the class got up and moved to leave. Higashizawa attempted to resume class, but eventually just sank into his seat.

Neku, Joshua, and Shiki desperately weaved through the crowd. Joshua snuck in some elbows in ribs, Shiki slipped between people, and Neku just shoved people away until they emerged from the crowd and raced to the roof.

Neku knew something was wrong even before he could fully take in the scene. Beat crouched in front of his sister, one hand on her face, the other futility attempting to scrub the tears from his eyes. Rhyme was unnaturally still.

Her eyes stared blankly ahead.

“Rhyme!” Shiki cried. “What’s wrong?”

Her voice was blank as she spoke.

“To right the countless wrongs of our day, we shine this light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise. What a wonderful world such would be…”

“C’mon,” Beat pleaded, “snap out of it.”

She made gestures as she spoke. “To right the countless wrongs of our day, we shine this light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise. What a wonderful world such would be.”

“What happened?” Neku asked.

“I dunno,” Beat sobbed. “I ran as fast as I could, I almost ran over Shades, but when I got here, she was just standin’ there, sayin’ this… this bullshit!”

“To right the countless wrongs of our day, we shine this light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise. What a wonderful world such would be,” Rhyme insisted. Her hand gestures were sharper.

“Wait a second,” Joshua said, “that’s hero code. She’s making hand signals.” He crouched down and stared intently at the gestures. “On watch… found something… leader approaching… I’m disabled,” he translated. “So you found something, were approached by a ‘leader,’ and then you were affected?”

Rhyme nodded.

“Who’s this leader?” Beat yelled. “I’ll mess ‘im up!”

Shiki dug through her backpack and pulled out a notebook and pen. “Who is this leader who did this to you?”

She picked up the pen, scribbled in fast hiragana, and handed the notebook back to Shiki.

“To right the countless wrongs of our day- damnit,” Shiki hissed.

“So we have to guess who this leader is,” Neku said. “Damn. I don’t know any local villains.”

Rhyme huffed and stomped her feet. “To right the countless wrongs of our day, we shine this light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise. What a wonderful world such would be!”

“Hold on,” Joshua said. “Hero code has lots of signals for villains. If she didn’t say ‘villain,’ then it wasn’t a villain. Maybe it was a hero…”

“Then she would have said hero,” Neku said. “I don’t know any hero code, but it obviously has the word hero in it.”

“So it wasn’t a hero or a villain,” Shiki mused.

“The principal.”

Rhyme nodded and gave Beat a hug. The rest of them stared at Beat in shock.

Beat sobbed into his sister’s hair and clutched her to his chest. Shiki started rubbing his back.

“It’s okay,” she said. “Maybe it’ll wear off soon. Brainwash quirks always have some kind of limit to them.”

“To right the countless wrongs of our day, we shine this light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise. What a wonderful world such would be…” Rhyme mumbled.

“What now?” Neku said. “She can’t just go back to school like this. We have to tell someone.”

“I’ll get Sanae,” Joshua said, already moving towards the door.

“Shiki, take care of Beat and Rhyme. I’ll go with you,” Neku said, turning towards Joshua.

Hanekoma was sitting at his in the teacher’s office, drinking a cup of coffee when Neku and Joshua burst in. Yashiro and Minamimoto looked at them when they burst in.

“What are you variables doing in here?” Minamimoto asked with an amused grin.

Yashiro frowned. “Students aren’t permitted in here.”

“Mr. H,” Neku panted, “there’s an emergency on the roof.”

Hanekoma put down his coffee and stood up. “What kind of emergency? Do I need to call the paramedics?”

“It’s hard to explain,” Joshua said. “We’ll explain on the way up.”

Hanekoma followed them to the roof. “What’s going on? Is a student threatening to jump?”

“No, nothing like that. Beat’s little sister was on a hero school training field trip and decided to visit.” Neku lowered his voice. “We think the principal used his quirk on her.”

They opened the door to the roof. Shiki had looked towards the movement and visibly relaxed when she saw Hanekoma with Joshua and Neku.

Hanekoma knelt to look at Beat and Rhyme.

“Hey, Beat,” Hanekoma said. “Can I see her?”

Beat nodded and let go. Rhyme turned and faced Hanekoma. Her eyes had regained some clarity.

“To right the countless wrongs of our day, we shine this light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise,” she said. “What a wonderful world such would be.”

“You hear a this bullshit before?” Beat asked.

Hanekoma frowned. “Not specifically, but this is definitely Kitaniji’s quirk.”

“Do you know how to fix it?” Neku asked.

Hanekoma scowled. “Kitaniji was an underground hero. I don’t even know his hero name, but even if I did, I doubt it would help. Knowledge on how to break out of a hero’s brainwash quirk is highly guarded for obvious reasons. I’m more concerned about why he zapped her. You said she’s a hero in training, right? What’s her quirk?”

“Respect,” Beat said. “It’s a mind-reading quirk. She can hear the instants and goals of people below her. She can also jump really high and defend slowly like I can.”

“Intents,” Shiki corrected softly. “Descend.”

“Yeah.”   

Hanekoma’s lips pressed together. “So she can find out what people want to do?” He whispered something in Rhyme’s ear. Her eyes widened and she nodded vigorously.

Hanekoma sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry. There’s not a lot I can do. I can call her parents and have her pick her up.”

“Can they make Kitaniji undo his quirk?” Shiki asked.

“I doubt it,” Joshua said. “Kitaniji is a certified hero, which means he has legal leeway to defend himself or his business or use his quirk indiscriminately. Rhyme barely even has her provincial license.”

“Josh is right,” Hanekoma said. “If we’re lucky, it’ll go away on its own. I’ll call her parents. They’re the same as yours, right Beat?”

Beat nodded. His eyes were distant.

“Dad’s going to be so mad,” he whispered. He tightened his grip on Rhyme’s hand.

When Hanekoma turned to leave, Rhyme ran towards him and grabbed his arm. She stared at him imploringly, making a signal and gesturing the the four of them with her free hand.

“I can’t,” Hanekoma said.

She made the signal again.

“Tell them,” Joshua translated. “Tell us what, Sanae?”

“I wish I could tell you guys. I wish I could tell every student. But then I’d get fired, and there would be no one to protect you all.”

Joshua scowled. It was the first time Neku had seen him angry since he hovered in their dorm room, wielding the fluorescent lights like weapons. “Do you really think not telling us will protect us? We’ll find out eventually. Rhyme’s brainwashing will wear off, or she’ll find a way to tell us, or we’ll find out by ourselves.”

“Maybe so. But then what? What if Kitaniji just brainwashes all of you? Or worse? This isn’t a trivial secret, J. I’m surprised Rhyme wasn’t killed for learning it. I won’t endanger my students to satisfy their curiosity. I’m begging you- don’t look into this.”

Hanekoma turned his back to them and walked off the roof, closing the door behind him.

“Damn it, Sanae,” Joshua muttered.

Beat jutted his chin out. “Imma find out why Shades did this to her, then imma kick his ass. Who’s with me?”

Rhyme grabbed his shirt and glared at him.

“I don’ care if it’s dangerous, Rhyme, I gotta stop im. What if he finds you t’ finish the job? I’d rather put the target on my own back.”

Rhyme made a few gestures.

“I won’t assist,” Joshua translated.

“C’mon, Rhyme,” Beat pleaded.

Rhyme shook her head. She squeezed his hand, but walked off to follow Hanekoma.

“I’m here for you,” Shiki said. “If that means you want me to help you, I’ll do it.”

“I’m in,” Neku said. “Rhyme’s our friend.” He turned to Joshua. “How about you? We’d understand if you decided not to.”

Joshua sighed dramatically and smiled, twirling a strand of hair with his finger. “I thought you’d never ask. You’d be lost without my brains.”

“Doubtful, but it’s good that you’re joining us.”

“I guess I’ll have to prove it. Rhyme’s quirk senses intentions and goals, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So she sensed someone’s goal or intention, and that knowledge caused her to become dangerous enough to Kitaniji that he brainwashed her.”

“Good to know that you have the basic skill of repeating facts,” Neku said. “But that should be a minimum requirement, not your ultimate boast.”

“Kitaniji is planning something he doesn’t want anyone else to know about,” Joshua said.

“For a retired hero,” Shiki said, “that’s pretty villainous.”

“For a hero,” Joshua said, “it’s pretty standard.”

“Well that’s good to know, but that’s not a lot to go on,” Neku said.

“We jus’ gotta learn more, right? I betcha he’s got a lot of stuff in his office.” Beat said.

Joshua smiled. “Of course he does. The real question is how we’re going to get to it.”

That night, Neku had trouble sleeping. It wasn’t just the nerves that grated on him, the creeping thoughts of what they were going to do, but a shifting presence above him. Normally, having Beat in the upper bunk wasn’t a problem: he fell asleep quickly, didn’t shift in his sleep, and snored quietly. But that night, his weight shifted so much that Neku was surprised that the entire dorm couldn’t hear the bed creak.

“Beat,” Neku whispered, “get your ass down here.”

The ladder groaned under Beat’s weight.

“Sorry, Phones,” Beat whispered. It was the same volume as the average person’s speaking voice. “Can’t sleep. My thoughts won’t turn off.” He scoffed. “Usually, they ain’t even on.”

“Thinking about Rhyme?”

“‘Course. ‘M scared she’s gunna be stuck like that forever.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll find something in Shades’s office. Even if we don’t find out what he’s planning, we can hold it over his head and make him turn her back to normal.”

Beat sighed. “It’s not just that. We had a conversation like this the day before I left, me an’ Rhyme. She said- she said she didn’t want to become a hero. Her classmates are all inspiring each other, determined to help people, and Rhyme’s only there because our ‘rents expect it of her. I mean, it’s like she isn’t even a person to ‘em, just a garage kit of a good kid. And I’m just their useless spare.”

“Rhyme said that she can only hear thoughts when she’s above people, and you said you didn’t inherit your father’s quirk… are your parents in a quirk marriage?”

Beat looked away. “Yeah. It’s not that bad, though. Not for me, a’least. Rhyme… our ‘rents want her to be a hero so bad she never had the chance to have a dream of her own.”

There was a long pause. Lights from the hallway leaking under the closed door flickered as Joshua turned in his sleep.

“Beat?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you get sent to the UG?”

“I chose to attend, yo.”

“What?” Neku’s voice cracked in disbelief. “Why?”

“It’s the only public high school that’d accept my test scores. I studied ‘n stuff, but my ‘rents and I weren’t expecting much. There were a few other high schools that would’ve taken me, but raising a hero’s expensive. Why waste the money on high school education that ain’t gunna do me shit?”

“Why even go to high school?”

“I’ll need some kind of job when I’m outta here. Else it’ll reflect badly on Rhyme. Whatever I do, I can’t reflect badly on Rhyme.” Beat’s voice was uncharastically emotionless, as if he had heard those words a thousand times.

“Screw that.”

“Wha?”

“You heard me. You don’t want to be a salaryman, you want to be a skateboarder. Why waste your time stuck in here when you could be doing what you want to do?”

“Phones, you don’ understand, I gotta help my sister-”

“And you think this is how you’ll do it? By letting your life waste away in a classroom or office building? She wants to find her dream, and you’ve already found it. Don’t insult her by letting your ambitions waste away. You might admire her, and she might be the one in hero training, but you’re her big brother- you’re her hero. Inspire her.”

Neku could hear Beat choke up. “Phones…”

“And if she finds her own dream? Then support her. But you’re your own person, dammit. You’re more than just Rhyme’s big brother.”

Beat began scrubbing at his eyes. “Aight. Aight. After all of this is over, I’ll work on that. But right now, Rhyme needs me to be her big brother.”

“And you’ll be there for her. The best way for you to do that is to sleep.”

“Aight. Night, Phones.”

“Night, Beat.”

He climbed up into his bed. Neku heard the shuffle of the covers and the shift in his weight.  

“Phones?” Beat whispered.

“Yeah?”

“You’re a good friend.”

“So are you,” Neku whispered back. “I’m glad I met you guys.”

“Night.”

“Night.”

There was something sacred about the early morning hours. The city was asleep, except for the villains that crawled through the streets on their own business or salarymen fighting their physical limitations in order to defeat the looming threat of a deadline. Pockets of gaudy activity were tucked away on certain blocks or stretched over neighborhoods, weakly pulsing in the distance. There was a stillness in the air, as if the city lights themselves were holding their breath, waiting to see if life would flow like blood to the rest of the streets. It felt wrong to disturb it, like waking a resting corpse to ask for the time.

But there was no point being romantic when there was an office to break into. One at a time, they descended on Beat’s back to the front of the school building.

Joshua was the last to arrive on Beat’s back, dismounting with as much grace as he could manage and smoothing out the dark blue hoodie he borrowed from Neku. They all were dressed in dark colors- Shiki had spent a solid hour coordinating their outfits the night before. Joshua dug through his pockets and pulled out the master key he purchased from Coco all those months ago.

“ _Wait,_ ” Neku hissed, “ _what about security cameras?_ ”

“ _There aren’t any inside. There’s only one at the entrance, and we flew past it. I sneak in here sometimes to work in the art room._ ” Joshua unlocked the door and opened it, gesturing for the three of them to creep in.

Shiki went first, peering around each corner to check for any night janitors before gesturing for them to follow. They crept up the stairs, breathing shallow and quiet, waiting for any distant creak of unknown steps.

Finally, they made it to the principal’s office. Joshua unlocked the door, and they all shuffled in.

As soon as he closed and locked the door behind them, Beat let out a huge breath.

“Damn. My heart was goin so fast I was afraid it was gunna stop.”

Neku looked around. There was a single desk facing the door with a computer on it. Chairs lined the wall in front of the desk, while the walls behind the desk were lined with file cabinets.

“Everyone pick a file cabinet and start perusing,” Neku said. “Remember, leave everything exactly as you found it. Beat, watch the hallway. If there’s someone coming, knock on the door. We’ll come get you when we’re done.”

Joshua let Beat out and locked the door behind him.

Neku looked at the cabinet in front of him. The top drawer was labeled “Current Students” and the last three drawers were labeled “Past students.”

Inside of “Current Students,” student files were arranged by year and last name. Out of curiosity, he searched for his own file, skimming through his birthday and health information.

 

 

 

 

> _Sakuraba, Neku_
> 
> _Quirk: Art Haus_
> 
> _Referred by court order_
> 
> _Charges pending erasure: 1 count of assault_
> 
> _Notes: Powerful quirk and nature of arrest creates the potential for an especially effective candidate. See therapist notes for more details._

Neku’s blood ran cold. Desperately, he searched through the other files. He pulled out Bito, Daisukenojo; Kiryu, Yoshiya; and Misaki, Hideo. He grimaced at the last one; he didn’t mean to pry into Shiki’s birth name.

 

 

 

 

> _Bito, Daisukenojo_
> 
> _Quirk: Respect_
> 
> _Applied_
> 
> _Charges pending erasure: N/A_
> 
> _Notes: Little sister, Bito Raimu, trains at Hero Preparatory Middle School. Low potential for candidacy due to quirk and lack of criminal record. Companions and sister potential leverage._

 

 

 

 

> _Yoshiya, Kiryu_
> 
> _Quirk: Angel Beams_
> 
> _Applied_
> 
> _Charges pending erasure: N/A_
> 
> _Notes: Extremely high potential for candidacy due to several factors such as past hero training, heroic lineage, distaste for heroes, and sexual preference. See therapist notes for more details._
> 
>  
> 
> _Misaki, Hideo_
> 
> _Quirk: Groove Pawn_
> 
> _Referred by court order_
> 
> _Charges pending erasure: 3 counts of robbery_
> 
> _Notes: Diagnosed with gender identity disorder, which lead to estrangement with parents. Both are potential sources of leverage. Moderately powerful quirk and leverage creates medium potential for candidacy. See therapist notes for more details._

 

“Candidacy?” Neku muttered out loud. Shiki turned from her files.

“Hm? Did you find something? Hey! Those are our files!” She snatched hers from his hand and put it back in the cabinet.

Neku grimaced. “Sorry, Shiki. Hey, Joshua, can I have the key?”

Joshua looked up. “ _Use the pin, you idiots. Speaking of, you have your key pin, right? There’s a locked file over here. I’ll trade you.”_

Neku unpinned the key button he had under his jacket and tossed it to Joshua. Joshua tossed the master key back.

“ _What do you need it for?_ ” Shiki asked.

“ _All our files rank our potential as some kind of candidates. Most of them refer to therapist notes, which I assume are in Konishi’s office. Don’t worry- I won’t look in anyone else’s files. At least none of you guys._ ”

He slipped out of the door and locked the room behind him. Beat jumped and turned towards him.

“Ya scared me, Phones,” Beat whispered loudly. “Did you find anything yet?”

Neku shushed him and tapped on the skull pin. “ _Not yet. But I think I’m close. I’m headed to Konishi’s. Keep an eye out.”_

_“Got it.”_

Neku’s hands shook as he fumbled with Konishi’s lock. The hair raised on the back of his neck, and he kept swivelling his head, looking for the blonde witch to turn the corner and smile at him.

The room was empty, but Neku didn’t relax. He crept past the chairs Konishi used for appointments towards her desk. Tucked behind the desk, he saw a smaller set of file cabinets. There were three: “Candidates,” “Students,” and “Successful Graduates”

He started with “Students”, but after searching through the entire cabinet twice, he didn’t see himself or any of his friends. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, he searched through “Candidates.”

Unlike every other cabinet he had searched through, this one wasn’t organized by last name or year. Neku found himself and his friends at the top of the file cabinet, grouped into the same filing folder labeled “Primary focus.”

His entire body was shaking with tension. He could hardly see the characters on the page. Neku took a deep breath and touched his pin.

“ _Guys? I don’t think I can do this by myself. Can someone help me?_ ”

Joshua responded first. “ _I’m not finding anything interesting here. I’ll go._ ”

“ _Thank you._ ” Neku hoped his mental voice wasn’t shaking as much as his physical one would be.

While he waited for Joshua to arrive, he opened the master folder and separated the individual folders. He kept his own folder and the folder labeled “General notes” closest to himself. He opened the “General notes” folder when Joshua opened the door.

“Scared to be in here by yourself?” Joshua was smiling, but the rest of his body was tense and caved in on himself.

“You say that like you’re not frozen in fear,” Neku bit back. “I’m not ashamed to say that this bitch scares the shit out of me. Especially considering the fact that our files are grouped together.”

Joshua raised his eyebrows and joined Neku on the other side of the desk. He scanned the file and frowned.

“Can you read it out loud?” Neku hated how weak his voice sounded.

Joshua took a deep breath. “Although the students themselves have a variety of potential as villains, I have grouped them together. Past attempts to isolate them or turn them against each other have failed, so I am forced to experiment with a group indoctrination. I am hesitant to risk especially Sakuraba and Kiryu, as they have the most individual potential I have ever seen. Their quirks, Sakuraba’s especially, give them the potential to be the most efficient villains in Japan. Misaki’s gender confusion makes- she writes her with male pronouns here, but that’s stupid- her vulnerable to mental instability, and her quirk has potential for villainy. However, her heart is too soft as of now. Bito is a fool, to put it colloquially, but his destructive impulses, low self esteem, and attachment to his sister provide amble weakness for grooming. Influencing them by causing mental instability seems to work in the short term, but their bond seems to counteract any long term effects.”

Here, Joshua paused, taking several deep breaths before finally reading the sentence out loud. “In order for them to become effective villains, I must influence their group mentality as a whole to become more tribalistic, anti-establishmentarian, and violent.” Joshua put the paper down and sank to the ground. “Oh.”

His hands, balled into fists, started shaking.

“I guess we learned what Kitaniji’s goal was,” Neku said.

Joshua started making a weird sound. Neku realized it was laughter.

Neku knelt down next to him. “Keep it together, Josh!”

“It’s-it’s-it’s just so funny!”

“It’s really not.”

“She’s just toying with our heads- watch.” He dug through his file. “I knew it. See? She was the one who started the rumor about me and Sanae.”

“Josh, you need to calm down.” Neku grabbed Joshua and forced him to look in his eyes. “Deep breaths.”

“It was working, too. You know, Neku, I would have let you kill that kid. Jesus.” Joshua clutched his head. “Was that… did she…?”

“Joshua!” Neku grabbed his face between his hands. “You never killed anybody. We know what she wants from us now. We won’t let her twist us.”

Joshua let his head fall down to rest on Neku’s shoulder. He barked out a short, bitter laugh. “I kind of understand why Sanae didn’t want us to learn this.”

Neku rubbed his hand in circles on Joshua’s back. The contact sent butterflies through his stomach. “Are you calm now?”

“I just need a minute. Or ten.”

They sat there, just breathing together, until a voice reverberated in their heads.

“ _Guys!”_ Shiki said. “ _I found something pretty weird. Come check this out.”_

 _“Maybe you should come to us,”_ Neku said. “ _We found what we were looking for. You should come too, Beat.”_

_“Aight. I was getting pretty bored anyways.”_

Neku ran a hand down Joshua’s head. “You okay?”

Joshua hummed. “Yeah. It was just a lot to take in.” He lifted his head up and leaned against the wall right as Shiki and Beat entered the room.

“Wassup?”

“You guys might want to sit down for this.” Neku said.

“We’re being groomed to be villains,” Joshua said.

“Wait!” Shiki shouted. “That makes no sense! The big thing I found is that Kitaniji and Konishi are being payed by several hero agencies.”

“Are they official donations to the school?” Neku asked.

“No, they’re under the table. But why would hero agencies be paying an organization whose true purpose is to make villains?”

Joshua sighed. “Why do heroes do anything? Money. Fame. This actually makes perfect sense. There’s so much peace lately. Can any of you guys name even one villain who’s still on the streets? Hero agencies are fighting each other for the scraps. They’re desperate for someone to threaten the status quo.”

“So they decided to make their own villains,” Neku said darkly. “Us.”

“Bwaaaah,” Beat said, rubbing his shoulders. “That’s creepy, yo.”

Shiki looked behind her, as if expecting Konishi to appear with that calculating smile on her face. “We should talk about this more at the dorm. First, we should put all of this back.”

“Wait,” Joshua said. He pulled out his phone. “My phone has a camera. Let me take pictures of everything before we leave. Just in case.”

Beat opened the door. “I’ll stay on watch. Just in case anything happens.”

Shiki and Neku watched in silence as Joshua systematically photographed Konishi and Kitaniji’s files. It turned out that the “Successful Graduates,” cabinet was filled with old student files paired with newspaper articles about certain villain attacks. Neku shivered.

After another hour, Joshua put his phone away.

“I think this should do it. Let’s get out of here.”

They snuck out of the school building, quiet as cornered rats.

When they all returned to their room, nobody spoke. They all stared past each other with thousand-yard gazes, soaking in the information they had learned. Finally, Joshua got up and plugged his phone into his computer, transferring and copying the images.

“I wanna talk to Rhyme,” Beat said quietly.

“Tomorrow we’ll sneak you off school and let you use one of our cell phones or something,” Shiki said. She bit her lip. “Shit. Tomorrow. What’s the game plan? We can’t just keep acting like nothing happened.”

Joshua looked up from his laptop. “We have to,” he said. “And meanwhile, we have to figure out what to do with this information.”

“I vote that we tell Mr. H what we know,” Neku said.

“Yeah,” Beat said, “that makes sense. He can help us.”

“Sure,” Shiki said. “But how about the authorities?”

Joshua frowned. “Technically, this isn’t illegal. But if the media found out, the public would be furious. Then again, how would we tell anyone? No one would believe teenagers from villain reform school.”

Neku looked up. “No, they wouldn’t. But we know some people they would believe: heroes. Between Rhyme and Coco, we’re set. Especially since Rhyme read Kitaniji’s mind. Hell, maybe we could even get in contact with Shooter if he’s not still mad about us beating him up.”

Shiki narrowed her eyes. “What’s this about you guys beating up a hero?”

“Don’t worry about it. The point is that we can tell people about what’s going on here.”

Joshua groaned. “Sounds like a pain to me. I’d rather let someone else tip off the media. If I wanted to be a hero, I would have attended hero school. Let’s pass this to Coco and Rhyme.”

“But first we talk to Mr. H,” Neku said. “Is that good with everyone?”

Everyone nodded.

“Alright then. Let’s try to get some sleep before school starts in,” Neku looked at the clock, “three hours.”

School was a futile battle between exhaustion and the need to act like everything was normal. All of them fell asleep in at least one class. By lunch, there were rumors that there had been an orgy the night before in their room. Before, Neku would have thought it was a student. Now, all he could think of were the words Joshua had read out loud.

_In order for them to become effective villains, I must influence their group mentality as a whole to become more tribalistic, anti-establishmentarian, and violent._

Art club couldn’t come and go fast enough. Usually, Beat left after club, while Neku, Joshua, and Shiki were too caught up in their work to leave. However, they all waited patiently for every other student to leave.

When the last student left the art room, Hanekoma shut the door and turned to the four of them.

“Judging by your paranoid stares and all around presence, I assume you guys found out the big secret.”

“Was this place really created just to make more villains for heroes to fight?” Neku asked.

Hanekoma sighed. “And here I was hoping you guys would be talking about something else. Yeah. I overheard Kitaniji and Konishi talking about a past student. I confronted Kitaniji about it, but I didn’t have any proof. He was spooked enough that he didn’t fire me, but I can tell he’s been looking for an excuse to kick me out.” He looked at Joshua. “I’m sorry you got caught up in that rumor, J. I think that was made to try to intimidate me into resigning. To be honest, you students are the only reason I’m still here. When I found out what those two were trying to do to every kid here, I knew I had a choice. I knew that the only thing I could do help was to keep teaching. If they wanted to teach you guys that you’re only good for destroying the world, then I would teach you guys that you can change the world, even without being a hero.”

Joshua held up his phone. “I have pictures of papers that document the entire process. Did you know that several hero agencies are paying them under the table?”

Hanekoma chuckled. “It doesn’t surprise me at all. You know, Josh, for someone who hates heroes, you’re really good at being one.”

Joshua shrugged. “Not really. I just want all of this to be over. We’re going to take this information to some heroes-in-training and let them deal with it.”

“Speakin’ of,” Beat said, “Can I use your phone to call Rhyme? I haven’t heard how she’s doin.”

“Sure thing. Your parents called this morning to tell me that the brainwashing wore off.”

Beat looked like he was about to cry in relief. He ran over to the phone and punched the numbers into the phone so hard Neku was surprised the phone didn’t fall of the table.

“Hey, you know, I’m not one to advocate sneaking off campus, but I hear there’s a new CAT piece somewhere around here.”

Neku’s jaw dropped. “No way. Where?”

Hanekoma smiled his cat-with-the-cream smile. “I’ll let you know after Beat finishes talking to his sister. That might be a while, so go ahead and sit down. I’ll make you all some coffee.”

The sun hung low in the sky, staining it a vibrant orange and staining the city with shadows. They walked in a line, chatting about this and that, feet tapping to the inaudible rhythm of the city around them. Neku spotted the mural first and ran towards it, desperate to soak in its details as soon as humanly possible. Beat, not wanting to lose any sort of race, surged ahead. Joshua and Shiki rolled their eyes at their antics, approaching the mural at their own pace.

The mural was bright and colorful, covered with smaller symbols and phrases tucked into corners and niches. In the foreground, faintly masked by a couple of stylized skulls, was a hammer. The hammer was being broken apart by a series of brightly-colored nails: blue, green, pink and yellow.

“ _Don’t be afraid to be yourself,_ ” the mural murmured.

Neku froze.

“Wait a second,” he said, “Mr. H is CAT?”

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the abrupt ending. I might fix it, because it was a bit rushed, but not for a while at least.  
> I don't know if it's tacky to thank people, but I'd like to thank my author scivious for her incredible art and my beta reader Gabby for beta-ing. Without you guys cheering me on, I don't know if I would have made it to completion. Thanks as well for the organizers of the big bang; without them, this idea would have never been written, and would have stayed an inkling forever.


End file.
